


To the Moon and Back

by thunderstorm (ConsultingTimelordWizard)



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: 707 | Luciel Choi's Real Name, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Polyamory Negotiations, mc has a name, slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2019-07-29 06:19:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16258421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConsultingTimelordWizard/pseuds/thunderstorm
Summary: Jung Soo Min is the heiress to a large AI company. To secure a deal, she and Han Jumin are arranged to be married. She's fine with it, really, but when Choi Luciel breaks into Jumin's penthouse, she finds herself drawn to his aloofness and charm. Something in her wants to break down the layers and know Luciel for who he is beyond his jokes and love for cats, but how can she do that without ruining the deal with C&R? Not to mention messages she keeps receiving from someone named Unknown...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I've had this idea in my head for months, and I've finally decided to do something about it! I'm not the best at summaries, so hopefully you enjoy it regardless. Few quick notes:
> 
> -MC has a name: Jung Soo Min, using the blonde avatar  
> -Soo Min's father's company is A.I.E., which stands for Artificial Intelligence Enterprises, and deals largely with developing artificial intelligence in a way that benefits humanity  
> -the way Soo Min joins the RFA is slightly different from the game, and she knows all the members at least by name by the time she enters the chatroom

The view of Seoul from the penthouse of C&R was beautiful, though only slightly different from the view Jung Soo Min saw on a regular basis. Father’s tower on the opposite side of Seoul had a better view of the mountains outside of the city, and when paired with the orange-and-purple sunset and the sparsest amount of clouds it made for the perfect Pictogram photo. Soo Min wasn’t sure what the sunset looked like from this penthouse, but since it was high noon she wouldn’t know for a few hours yet. She let out a disappointed sigh and looked down when she felt something soft brush against her shin, Elizabeth the 3rd meowing up at her in greeting. It lightened her mood, and she bent down to lift the gentle Persian cat into her arms. She was sure Jumin wouldn’t mind; if things between her father and his went well, then the two of them would soon be husband and wife.

“I don’t know why Hyun and Jaehee complain so much,” Soo Min murmured to the cat, walking around the penthouse and eventually sitting on the sofa. Elizabeth purred and settled into her lap, letting Soo Min scratch behind her ear. “I know Hyun is allergic, but you’re too cute to hate.”

Of course, she couldn’t say too much about those beyond Hyun and Jaehee in Han Jumin’s friend group, though whether he’d refer to them as friends was another matter entirely. In the times she’d spent with her possible fiancee in the past weeks, she’d only come face-to-face with Kang Jaehee and Ryu Hyun, though he insisted on being called Zen. Kim Jihyun, Choi Luciel, and Kim Yoosung were too busy to meet someone who might not be part of their lives if the business deal between C&R and her father’s company didn’t go to plan, and Soo Min couldn’t argue that logic. Still, she was under the mindset of wanting to be friends even if she didn’t marry Jumin, but that didn’t seem likely to happen unless she had their contact information.

From what she saw, the group talked to one another through a messenger app rather than text messages. Soo Min wanted to have that app herself, but that wasn’t her decision to make.

A noise came from the front door and brought Soo Min out of her thoughts. She froze instinctively and released her grip on Elizabeth, watching as the cat got up and sprinted toward the door, and she thought it was likely Jumin coming home from his day at work for his father’s company. She sighed and tugged her phone out, refreshing her email to see if her business partners had responded yet and pushing the opening door out of her mind. Jumin was an interesting character, one who seemed like he’d be less than thrilled to see her sitting in his home without anyone accompanying her, but she didn’t regret being in her (possibly) future home until she heard a voice that was decidedly _not_ Jumin shout and Elizabeth meow in response.

“Ellie!”

Soo Min jumped to her feet immediately, kicking her heels off and grabbing them in either hand as she stared at the intruder, her phone forgotten on the sofa. The man was dressed like he belonged anywhere but a high-end business building, his hoodie two sizes too big and red hair standing out against Jumin’s black-and-white color scheme. His glasses were patterned like caution tape, the yellow and black stripes coming across more as a child’s pattern rather than the pattern of a full-grown adult, and his jeans were covered in what looked like chip crumbs. What was most interesting, however, was the black cross that hung from the intruder’s neck, the light of the penthouse reflecting off of the smooth surface reminding her of obsidian.

She hadn’t expected an intruder to be religious, nor did she think God would approve of breaking the law. Soo Min clutched her shoes tighter and narrowed her eyes as the intruder’s golden ones finally noticed her there.

Strangely, the intruder seemed to recognize her, which wasn’t something that should have surprised her as much as it did. Father was the CEO of a major security company, after all, but that also meant the security in her home growing up was _strong_. Father had wanted a private family life, and private family life she and her twin brother, Joon, had gotten. He had taken a page out of Michael Jackson’s book and had both herself and Joon wear masks to conceal their faces. It was only within the past few years that they’d both been able to go without their masks without Father becoming an anxious mess, and even then Soo Min hardly showed herself enough to the public to be recognized on sight.

So why did this intruder seem to know her?

“Woah there!” he said, throwing his hands up in surrender while eyeing the heels of her shoes warily. “I’m not here to hurt you!”

“And I’m just supposed to believe you?” Soo Min asked, eyes narrowing. “Step away from the cat or you get a shoe to the face.”

The intruder stepped away immediately, Elizabeth trotting away from the door unaware of the confrontation happening around her. The stranger looked after her forlornly, as if her escape single-handedly ruined his day by leaving him in the dust, and Soo Min fought back a laugh at the expression. His disappointment seemed to rival Jumin’s when he talked about leaving the cat behind on business trips. The intruder tore his gaze away from Elizabeth and looked at her a moment later, giving Soo Min a _grin_ of all things, and she wasn’t sure whether to lower her makeshift weapons or throw a shoe at him right then and there.

“Look, we got off on the wrong foot,” the intruder said. “Let’s start over, alright?” He cleared his throat and lowered his hands, deeply breathing in and exhaling out before holding out his hand to her. “ _Anyoung haseyo_! I’m Seven, though you might know me by Luciel if you’ve been around Jumin as much as I believe you have been.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. She remembered briefly seeing one of the chats when Jumin had left his phone unlocked on the table one night at dinner, app open and messages flowing. She couldn’t remember what they were talking about, but she remembered names; 707 had come up several times in quick succession, and seeing the infamous Luciel face-to-face only made Jumin’s annoyed groan from that night even more amusing. A smile snuck its way onto her lips, and Luciel seemed to relax when she didn’t bother to to hide it.

“So you’re the source of Jumin’s suffering,”

The intruder-- _Luciel_ , she reminded herself quietly--held a hand to his chest as if the notion had never crossed his mind. “Me, be the cause of Jumin Han’s suffering? I would never!” He paused. “Though being the cause of Jaehee’s suffering is more likely, with all the work Mr. Director shoves her way.”

“Yes, she may have mentioned an aggravating redhead once or twice,” she drawled in response, finally dropping her heels to the ground and snorting when Luciel made a show of letting out a relieved breath. “My name is Soo Min.”

“Yeah, Jumin may have mentioned you,” Luciel said, pocketing his hands and meandering into the penthouse like he was the one who owned the place, not her possible fiancee. “Better you than Choi Glam, if I recall. He mentioned something about Mr. Chairman’s girlfriend trying to push her into Jumin’s arms..?”

Soo Min snorted and shut the door firmly behind Luciel, following after him and raising her eyebrows when she saw him make a beeline for the now-sleeping Elizabeth. _Poor cat_ , she mused, listening to Elizabeth’s complaints with only mild concern. There was no way anyone would hurt Jumin’s cat purposefully or otherwise.

Right?

“Father had mentioned something about that,” she said. “I think it’s one of the reasons he was so quick to jump on arranging this deal between our families.”

“So this really is an arranged marriage,” Luciel said, loosening his grip on Elizabeth slightly. The cat seemed to struggle but not too much, just enough to pretend she was fighting. That, she thought, was amusing, considering how much Jumin would go on about how other people mistreated his cat. She thought Elizabeth was just tricking her poor owner into thinking that, but Lord knew Jumin wouldn’t listen if she tried to offer that thought aloud. “I didn’t think people did arranged marriages anymore.”

“They don’t, not really. It’s a partnership rather than an arranged marriage, but the purpose is essentially the same.”

“Sounds like it.” Luciel went quiet and focused on petting Elizabeth for a few moments, the silence surprisingly comfortable to Soo Min’s surprise. Outside of this meeting, she had only heard of Luciel in passing a handful of times. She hadn’t expected comfort so quickly. “And you want to enter this engagement?” he continued, meeting Soo Min’s eyes. She fought a blush and nodded, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Yeah. I mean, it’ll help enhance both of our businesses growth if they work together rather than against one another, and as the heirs of our respective companies it will facilitate cooperation if we see one another on a daily basis rather than trying to fit one another into each other’s schedules.” Soo Min shrugged. “That, and Jumin is pleasant company. It’s not as if I have any solid reason to oppose the arrangement other than not knowing him enough to call him a friend.”

“And you think that’ll change easily?”

“I’m waiting for him, aren’t I?” She raised her eyebrow in challenge, and was met with a conceding nod. “His meeting will end soon, if Assistant Kang is to be believed. We’ll get lunch afterward and go from there.”

“Huh.” Luciel let Elizabeth go, and the cat jumped delicately off of his lap to run to the kitchen. Soo Min briefly thought about following her, making sure she had food and water, but the sound of the automatic feeder refilling her bowl stopped her from doing anything. Right, that was a thing. She’d never had pets growing up, but she should’ve at least guessed that Han Jumin would invest in something like that for while he was busy during the day. “I never thought I’d see the day someone would actively pursue Jumin,” he continued, and she looked back to Luciel curiously.

“Huh?”

“He doesn’t make it easy to get close to him,” he went on. “The press has a reason for calling him the Ice Prince: he won’t let anyone get close to him.”

“I’ve found him easy to get along with,” she said with a frown. “He’s got a dry sense of humor. I don’t think it would be hard to be married to him.”

“You, madam, have a different view of Han Jumin than even Jaehee seems to have,” Luciel joked, and Soo Min felt her lips twitch up in amusement.

“Is that so?”

“Yep!” Luciel hopped up and brushed Elizabeth’s fur off of his jeans, the white tufts floating down to the floor lazily and landing on his shoes. If he noticed, he didn’t bother to do anything about it, and Soo Min followed as Luciel headed toward the penthouse’s door. “If you want better humor, maybe we could get lunch instead. I could get you as many Honey Buddha Chips and PhD. Pepper as your heart desires!”

Soo Min snorted. “Isn’t that unhealthy for you? I don’t think I’ve had more than a bag or a can of each in my life.”

He held his hand to his chest in feigned shock. “My dear Soo Min! Live your life to the fullest. That includes eating as unhealthily as possible--and with as wealthy as you are, that should be no trouble whatsoever.”

She held her pointer finger to her bottom lip to exaggerate her thinking, occasionally adding _hmm_ and _huh_ into the drawn out process and relishing in the suspenseful expression donning the stranger’s face. Finally she let her lips give away her smile fully, and she nodded quickly, blonde hair covering her eyes partially as it came out of its bobby-pins.

“I’d like that,” she said. The smile that spread across Luciel’s face was radiant, and she half-expected needing to shield her eyes from its brightness. “I’ll message you later, yeah?”

“Yeah, alright.” Soo Min watched as the elevator closed between them, watching for a few minutes before realizing she hadn’t given him her number. “Shit,” she muttered, hitting the call button quickly. Maybe Jumin could give Luciel her cell phone number? Hell, perhaps Assistant Kang could if she asked. Best of all would be if she could catch up with Luciel before he was out of sight from C&R, but as she stepped into the elevator and slowly descended toward the ground, she realized she’d be far too late. The elevator chimed for the bottom floor, and she huffed in annoyance as she stepped out into the lobby.

“Dammit,” Soo Min cursed. Maybe she could text Jumin and have him meet her somewhere for lunch instead of waiting for him? Before she could actually take her phone out and send off the message, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, and she dug it out quickly. There was no way Luciel could have gotten her number already, right?

 

> **Unknown:** … hello?...
> 
> **Soo Min** : ?
> 
> **Unknown:** can you see this?

Her heart began racing, and Soo Min looked around her surroundings quickly. She had no idea who could be texting her, but an unknown person having her number was nothing good. Her father wasn’t the best in the world, but he taught her to be cautious before anything else.

 

> **Soo Min:** who are you?

She wasn’t sure she believed this person, this supposed Korean student traveling abroad. Curse her helpful and curious nature, but something about visiting an address to return a lost phone seemed oddly sensible to her head. Soo Min could hear her father yelling at her in her head for even considering going to a stranger’s home per the instructions of another stranger (and a cute one, going by the photo he sent her), yet she ignored it as if the voice wasn’t reasonable at all.

Soo Min hardly believed in fate, but right now? This home and this phone felt like fate.

 

> **Unknown:** will you help me?
> 
> **Soo Min:** … fine.

God help her soul.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's been so long! finals for school are finished though, so i should be writing more often. enjoy!

She was too busy staring at the apartment to notice the vibrations coming from her phone.

Granted, it was idiotic for her to follow the advise of a complete stranger and break into  _ another _ stranger’s home, but Soo Min would be the first to admit that she was a little naive. She’d always been a bit too trusting, a bit  _ too _ kind, and it was for those reasons that she’d been the victim of more than one kidnapping while she was growing up despite her father’s precautions. She felt the innate instinct to help out whenever she could, because she had enough influence to actually  _ make _ a change in the world, dammit, why shouldn’t she? It always led to trouble, though. Soo Min should have known better.

That obviously explained why she now stood in the middle of a tidy, if dusty, apartment that looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. She took a step further into the room and coughed at the dust that stirred up from the movement, waving her hand in front of her face to try and fan it away while she explored. The windows took a bit of elbow grease to open, but once she managed the fresh air both stirred the dust up more and yet made breathing that much more bearable to her relief. 

Where was she, exactly?

_ No _ , she thought, grabbing a notepad and a pen from the desk and scribbling a few times to make sure the pen still worked. It barely did, but it was enough to leave a legible message.  _ Just give the message and go _ . Now what was the information again? She took her phone out to ask Unknown for his information, but the constant vibrations that she hadn’t noticed before came full-force as her screen lit up with each notification. Soo Min frowned and unlocked her phone, leading to an application she didn’t remember downloading before.

> **SOO MIN HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM.**
> 
> **Yoosung:** failed my midterms fml T_T
> 
> **Yoosung sent a crying emoji.**
> 
> **707:** cuz you played LOLOL all night lol
> 
> **Jumin:** If you want to work for our company, you should take care of your GPA.

Soo Min froze and dropped the pen she’d been holding, sitting down in the desk chair and scrolling up to stare at Jumin’s name. First of all, who were these people? Second of all, how did she get into a group chat with Jumin? She hardly knew his friends, if he even called them that, but there was Zen’s name in the chat, and  _ there _ was Jaehee. Somewhere in the back of her mind she recalled someone named Yoosung being mentioned once or twice, though she didn’t remember anyone named 707. Suddenly she felt like she was intruding on a very private conversation, and she exited out of the chat to stare at the application that had appeared on her phone.

“What the hell?” she murmured, holding the app down and watching as every other app on her phone started shaking, little X’s appearing in the corners for her to delete at her whim. This one, this RFA app, didn’t have one though, as if it had been pre-installed on her phone from the moment she’d bought it. Obviously that was a lie, or she would have noticed by now. The real question, then, was how it got there in the first place. Maybe one of the people in the chat would know..?

“This will be awkward,” she muttered as she reopened the application. “‘Oh hey, I’m possibly Jumin’s future fiancee and this app appeared out of nowhere. Send help!’ Like that would fool them, no matter the truth in it.”

> **SOO MIN HAS ENTERED THE CHAT ROOM.**
> 
> **707:** there she is again!
> 
> **ZEN:** she? you mean the bot-hacker-thing?
> 
> **Jaehee:** With Soo Min’s name it looks like
> 
> **Jaehee:** Identify yourself stranger.

This was getting weird. Soo Min stared as the group continued to call her into speaking, but what the hell was she supposed to say? More importantly, would this affect her father’s deal with C&R? Soo Min felt her blood go cold, but she couldn’t just abandon the group now… could she? 

> **Soo Min:** Jaehee, you know me.
> 
> **Soo Min:** Jumin’s fiancee
> 
> **ZEN sent a shocked emoji**
> 
> **ZEN:** fiancee?!?!?!?!?!?!
> 
> **Soo Min:** well, not officially. yet. it’s still in the works.
> 
> **Jumin sent a frustrated emoji**
> 
> **Jumin:** Honest as always, Soo Min. It’s her.
> 
> **Jumin:** And we aren’t engaged yet. Please don’t call yourself my fiancee until it’s finalized.
> 
> **Soo Min:** if you insist, then alright i won’t
> 
> **Yoosung:** i’m so confused rn what’s going on
> 
> **Jaehee:** Excellent question. How did you get in here?
> 
> **707:** are you……..
> 
> **707:** A HACKER?!?!?!?!??!?!?!!
> 
> **707 sent a shocked emoji**

Soo Min giggled despite herself and got settled more comfortably in the chair she’d inhabited, pulling her knees to her chest and glancing at the door. She shouldn’t stay here long, she knew that. Who knew what she’d say when the owner of the apartment got home? Still, something about the apartment made her feel welcome, and judging by the dust the owner hadn’t been here in far too long. What was the likelihood of the owner coming home now?

> **Soo Min:** that’s my father’s company’s expertise, not my own
> 
> **Soo Min:** though i do know enough to get by i guess
> 
> **Soo Min:** idr ever downloading this app tho, it just appeared on my phone???
> 
> **Jumin:** That’s odd.
> 
> **Yoosung:** can that happen Seven?
> 
> **707:** i mean??? maybe???? 
> 
> **707:** did you contact anyone unusual recently?
> 
> **Soo Min:** two, actually
> 
> **Soo Min:** one guy just named Unknown who led me to this apartment 
> 
> **Soo Min:** and some guy named Luciel who broke into your flat earlier to play with Elizabeth, Jumin
> 
> **Jumin:** …
> 
> **707:** …
> 
> **Jaehee:** First of all, you followed a stranger’s instructions to a strange apartment? That’s not very wise, Soo Min.
> 
> **Soo Min:** ik but it looks like it hasn’t been touched in months maybe years, i’m good
> 
> **Jaehee:** Second of all, 707 is the Luciel you met earlier. It’s his baptismal name.
> 
> **707 sent a smiling emoji**
> 
> **Yoosung sent a shocked emoji**
> 
> **Yoosung:** don’t listen to strangers~ the world is dangerous
> 
> **Jaehee:** I agree.
> 
> **707:** you said someone named unknown brought you there?
> 
> **707:** i don’t see any chat records with someone named unknown…
> 
> **707:** we should probably tell V that Jumin’s fiancee got into the chatroom lol

Soo Min froze. Just as she was having fun too… She didn’t blame them for being ready to kick her out. She didn’t belong in a dusty old apartment anyway. She was the heiress of a majorly successful company, dammit, and soon to be co-running C&R. She had to at least live the part of tech genius, even if she didn’t consider herself one.

> **Jumin:** I agree. Where are you, Soo Min? I can meet you there for lunch like we were supposed to if you’d like.
> 
> **Soo Min** : i honestly don’t know. hang on i’ll send a pic
> 
> **Soo Min sent a picture**
> 
> **707:** ...wtf you’re in rika’s apartment
> 
> **Yoosung sent a shocked emoji**
> 
> **Yoosung:** how do you know what it looks like seven?!
> 
> **707:** i set the security up for her lol
> 
> **707:** but jumin you can’t go there. you gotta meet somewhere else
> 
> **Soo Min:** wait it’s a secret? then why did a stranger know the address
> 
> **707 sent a confused emoji**
> 
> **707:** a hacker’s work is never done~~
> 
> **707:** but that’s why i’m DEFENDER OF JUSTICE 7! 0! 7!
> 
> **ZEN sent a … emoji**
> 
> **Jaehee sent a … emoji**
> 
> **Soo Min:** lol
> 
> **707:** but for real you can’t tell anyone about rika’s address
> 
> **707:** ANYONE
> 
> **707:** it’s a secret ~
> 
> **Soo Min:** and if i do..?
> 
> **707 sent a … emoji**
> 
> **707:** then we’ll have to kill you obviously

Soo Min froze and stared at the screen. “...what?”

> **Jumin:** Don’t.
> 
> **Jumin:** Soo Min, you cannot stay there. Meet me back at C &R and I can answer any of your questions. 
> 
> **Jumin:** Along with Assistant Kang of course.
> 
> **Jaehee:** But sir I
> 
> **Jaehee:** Of course
> 
> **Soo Min:** i’ll leave rn, see you soon
> 
> **Soo Min:** and don’t worry this place will remain secret, i won’t tell a soul~
> 
> **SOO MIN HAS LEFT THE CHAT ROOM**
> 
> **JUMIN HAN HAS LEFT THE CHAT ROOM**
> 
> **JAEHEE KANG HAS LEFT THE CHAT ROOM**
> 
> **ZEN:** ...well this will be fun!
> 
> **ZEN sent a smug emoji**

 

\---

 

Soo Min didn’t stay at C&R for long. She was turned around the moment she stepped foot back into the building and nearly shouted in shock, only resisting when she was the person manhandling her was Jumin, Jaehee right behind him. The tension that had been in her since entering Rika’s apartment faded away in the more familiar presence, and Soo Min got into the limoscene waiting for the trio without a word of protest. It only became awkward when they all sat there in silence, no one seeming ready to break it, and she gathered herself before speaking plainly.

“Was that the chat room you always seem to be in, Jumin?” she asked. 

Jumin and Jaehee exchanged a  _ look _ , one that couldn’t really be described outside of italics in a written sentence, and Soo Min fidgeted in her seat, tugging her shirt until the wrinkles at least appeared to vanish. Jumin set his eyes on her and she struggled not to fidget again; despite his cool demeanor to the public eye, she could see caring in his expression as well as mild frustration. The more she spent time around him, the more she felt she could read him. He probably didn’t appreciate it, now that she thought about it, but Soo Min held his gaze as she waited for her answer.

“Yes,” Jumin finally said, pinching his nose and sighing. “How did you get that application? It’s not supposed to be available to anyone that Luciel doesn’t pre-approve, and I’m fairly certain that he wouldn’t have installed it while he was busy harassing my cat.”

“He did seem a bit smitten with her,” Soo Min agreed. “I honestly don’t know how it got there. I just started getting messages from that Unknown person, and my phone was vibrating when I got into the apartment.”

“That’s another thing,” Jaehee said. “Why did you go to a stranger’s apartment? You’re a public figure, Miss Jung, and it’s highly dangerous to go somewhere like that. Something bad could have happened.”

Soo Min felt herself flush in embarrassment, and she finally broke their gazes to look at the leather seat she sat on. “I suppose I’m a bit naive,” she admitted.

“You  _ suppose _ ?” Jumin muttered, and Jaehee nudged him with her foot in warning.

“I was a bit curious,” Soo Min continued. “And I like to help people. I was just going to leave a note with Unknown’s contact information for whoever owned the apartment and leave, but obviously that didn’t turn out. I didn’t even get Unknown’s information--just this text.” She held up her phone for them to see:

> **Unknown:** It’ll be really fun from now on. Enjoy your time with everyone. I’ll go get you soon.
> 
> **Soo Min:** Who the hell are you?

“He’ll get you soon?” Jaehee asked, looking at Soo Min with wide eyes. Soo Min shook her head and lowered her phone.

“Yeah, creepy right? He hasn’t messaged me since despite me calling him, so I’m not sure what’s going on,” she said. She was quiet for a few moments before venturing, “So what exactly is the RFA?”

“I suppose you should know,” Jumin said. “Since we are soon to be betrothed. The RFA stands for the Rika Fundraising Association. Each year we would gather wealthy and influential people and  host parties that both gained reputation and encouraged donations to an organization of our choice. Rika was the one who invited everyone. She’s also the one whose apartment you broke into.”

“Was invited into,” Soo Min corrected, though she knew that was stretching it. “So you’re a charity? Why haven’t we heard of you?”

“You’re a fairly recent company,” Jaehee explained. “You wouldn’t have been on the invite radar until about a year and a half ago, but by that point Rika had parted from this world and we had stopped hosting parties out of respect for her departure.”

“Departure?” Soo Min asked. “You mean--”

“Dead,” Jumin said flatly. “Presumably suicide, if V is to be believed. It has been a rough few years for the head of our organization. I suspect that’s another reason he doesn’t often enter the chat room.”

“If anyone should know, it’s you,” Jaehee said casually. “He is your best friend, after all.”

“V,” Soo Min said quietly. “You mean Jihyun? You’ve mentioned him a few times. I love his photos.”

Jumin’s lips quirked up into the ghost of a smile. “Yes, he’s rather good isn’t he? Whether you stay in the organization or not is up to V, so you’d best hope he agrees to your involvement if you want to stay.”

“Oh I’m sure he’ll agree,” Soo Min said, a playful smirk on her lips.

“Oh?” Jumin asked. “Why is that?”

“Because Han Jumin settles for only the best, don’t you know? I must be passable for the best if you’re soon to be my betrothed.”

Soo Min beamed as Jumin turned an interesting shade of pink and Jaehee snickered, and she raised her phone to subtly take a photo. On instinct she pulled the app back up and was pleasantly surprised to see the conversation still flowing.

> **SOO MIN ENTERED THE CHAT ROOM**
> 
> **Soo Min sent a photo**
> 
> **Soo Min:** breaking news: Han Jumin can blush
> 
> **JUMIN HAN ENTERED THE CHAT ROOM**
> 
> **JAEHEE KANG ENTERED THE CHAT ROOM**
> 
> **Jumin:** Delete that immediately.
> 
> **707:** lol can’t delete once it’s posted Mr. CEO
> 
> **Jaehee:** It is a flattering photo
> 
> **ZEN sent a … emoji**
> 
> **ZEN:** why send pics of Mr. CEO when you can send pics of me?
> 
> **Soo Min:** because you already know you’re attractive lolol
> 
> **Yoosung:** omg what’s even happening rn

Soo Min giggled and looked up at the other two, Jumin looking at her from over his phone looking… amused? His ears were still red, and she found herself grinning widely in success.  _ I’ll break your icy exterior  yet, Han Jumin _ , she thought, and she hoped to God that V would let her stay in the organization. She felt pulled toward it, like if she were to leave a piece of her would be missing. Soo Min just hoped she read both V and his friendship with Jumin right.


	3. Chapter 3

Here was the long and short of it: Luciel couldn’t find whoever it was that had put Soo Min into the RFA chat room, and no matter how much she and Jumin pestered him, he swore up and down that it wasn’t his doing. Soo Min wasn’t naive to technology; she knew how hackers worked, that this Unknown person could have remotely hacked her phone and planted the app there. Despite working for a company solely based in technology, some of what people could do with it made her nervous regardless, and not for the first time since entering the RFA chat she was attempting to go through the phone and at least allow her the option of getting rid of the app.

Here was another thing: Soo Min was great at fixing technology. She was not so great at hacking her way into programming. 

It was going on three hours since she had personally started into the programming of her phone, and Soo Min groaned in frustration as she restrained herself from tossing the damn thing across the room. Her father’s company made phones, she could easily get another one. It would be such a waste to break it, though, and who knew if the app was in her data chip or the phone’s hardware itself? She huffed and tossed it onto the sofa behind her instead, feeling satisfaction as it bounced a few times on the cushions before going still. She sighed and glanced up when the door to Jumin’s penthouse opened up, gripping her tools like a weapon if need be. 

“Oh!” Luciel exclaimed, staring at Soo Min with wide eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Soo Min retorted. “Didn’t Jumin just tell you off for bothering Elizabeth yesterday?”

Luciel grinned and pocketed his hands. “He’s told me off over a hundred times before that too, including threats of calling the police. Yet here I am!” His eyes went to the tools she was clutching and her phone, a chuckle escaping him. “You know if I can’t hack it, you won’t be able to, right?”

“Yeah, well, my pride wouldn’t let me rest until I gave it the good-old college try,” she said dryly, pushing herself up off of the floor and brushing off her pants. “Never mind that I’ve never been good at hacking in the first place. You can’t tell me you’re here to bother Elizabeth twice in the same week.”

He looked at the cat in question when she brushed herself against Soo Min’s calves and grinned. “Not that I’m opposed,” he said. “I love visiting my Elly--”

“Elizabeth,” Soo Min corrected.

“--but despite his confidence in his security, Mr. CEO wanted me to check out his CCTV cameras in case they missed something. He didn’t like that this hacker got to you anywhere near his building. Seeing my Elly is just an added bonus!”

“God help that poor cat,” she muttered, unable to hide her smile as Luciel made himself at home in the penthouse. “Have you had lunch yet?”

“...does Honey Buddha Chips and PhD Pepper count?”

“No. I’ll make something for us both, I’m starving.” She made her way to the kitchen and pulled a few things out of the fridge that looked like they could form an at least semi-decent meal. She heard Luciel set his computer up behind her and glanced over her shoulder, observing him. Out of the two times she’d see him, Luciel had always been wearing a smile on his face while they interacted. It was a nice smile, one that she’d probably plaster on advertising to promote a new laptop or whatever her father felt like marketing that year. Now that she was supposedly not looking his smile had (reasonably) disappeared, and she noticed a wrinkle between his eyebrows as he started to concentrate on whatever was on his laptop screen.

_ Cute _ , she thought with a light blush. 

“So not to sound rude,” Luciel said, making Soo Min jump, and she hurried back to setting up her ingredients. “But don’t you have your own home? Why are  _ you _ at the penthouse?”

“Chairman Han insisted my father and I stay a few days on this side of Seoul while negotiations went on between him and father,” she said. “Jumin offered to set me up in his guest room while we waited to be dragged into them as well.”

“Jumin has never seemed the marrying type. I always figured he’d eventually marry Elly--”

“Elizabeth.”

“--and I even had a pastor ready for South Korea’s first human-cat marriage! Not that he’s ever shown any interest in women either.” Luciel paused. “He’s always been actively against them, if I recall.”

Soo Min snorted and tossed her chopped vegetables into the pan she’d set on the stove. “I get where he’s coming from. It’s annoying when everyone is trying to marry you for your wealth and status. He’s probably only tolerating this arrangement because both of our companies have something to gain from the union and I’m obviously not phishing him for something objective.”

“And what about Soo Min? How do you feel about this ‘arrangement’?”

Soo Min stopped what she was doing and looked at Luciel fully, watching him uncertainly. Her mind automatically questioned what Luciel would have to gain from knowing her thoughts and feelings, having had them exploited in the past, but he actually looked genuine. Like he gave a shit about this tentative friendship they had forming. It was weird and unusual, and Soo Min faced the stove again to focus her attention on the stirfry.

“It’s advantageous,” she said lightly. “It would boost the profit margin of both of our companies tenfold, if my father’s predictions are accurate, which they usually are. Jumin and I get along well too, which is an added bonus.” 

“That’s not what I asked,” Luciel said in a sing-song voice, and she couldn’t stop the snort that escaped her. 

“Why does it matter, Luciel? We’ve only just met, and I’ve already thrown your RFA for a loop by getting into your app. If Jihyun kicks me out or you manage to get the app off my phone, chances are I’ll only be a smiling face on Jumin’s arm at your charity events that you’ll occasionally see.” She took the pan off the stove and scooped half the stirfry onto one plate, half on the other, bringing it out and setting one in front of Luciel before continuing. “What do you have to gain from knowing what I do and don’t think?”

Luciel frowned and set his laptops (plural, he had several laptops with him,  _ Jesus _ ) aside, picking up his offered chopsticks and digging into the food Soo Min had made. “So you don’t want to be in the RFA,” he said, not bothering to guise it as a question. Soo Min swallowed and looked down.

“It’s a good cause. I’d be honored to help out how I can, but that’s ultimately up to Jihyun isn’t it? I may have acted like I was already in it yesterday, but that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t know any of you, and I can call Jumin a casual friend at best because of the time we’ve been made to spend together.” She sighed. “Besides, you all weren’t exactly the nicest to Jumin in the chat rooms yesterday, and I’m just like him. I’m CEO-in-line for my father’s company, born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and I don’t understand things that you all consider common sense. Why try to be friends with me when I’m not only just like Jumin, but I might not even be in the RFA for long?”

Luciel was quiet for a moment too long, and Soo Min was about to take everything she said back when he decided to speak up. “As someone who’s known V for most of my life, I can say for certain that you won’t be kicked out. As for the CEO thing… it may not seem like it, but it’s just us picking fun at one another. The same happens to everyone else. Besides, you’re not just like Jumin.”

“And why is that?”

“Because Jumin doesn’t give a shit. From what I’ve seen, you do.” Luciel offered her a contagious smile, and she found herself smiling with him before she could stop herself. “Now! Marrying Jumin..?”

Soo Min snorted. “Call me a romantic, but I’ve always pictured myself marrying for love, not a business deal. Not that I can say no to my father, obviously, but Jumin is a nice guy despite what you all think. I believe I can learn to love him in time.”

Luciel snorted and finished his stir-fry, turning back to his laptops and typing away. “That will be the day that hell freezes over, I’m sure. I know you’re no hacker, but you wanna help look through the CCTV footage?”

“You just think it’s boring don’t you?”

“Bingo!” Luciel exclaimed. “You up for the task, Miss CEO?”

Soo Min snickered and took one of the laptops, pulling up the footage and opening the earliest relevant one available. “I think I can handle that for God 707.”

“Excellent, Agent 606! Operation Find the Hacker is a go.”

 

\---

 

The party was set for a week from then. V had finally made an appearance in the chat room, and after a few slightly awkward pleasantries Soo Min had been named party coordinator, just like Rika had been before her. She would have been honored if Yoosung didn’t keep comparing her to Rika after the fact, but that was something she could ignore easily enough. It was no different than ignoring those online followers who were convinced she was their best friend, sad as that was. 

Besides the whole Rika-thing, Soo Min rather liked Yoosung and often felt like an older sister to him, scolding him when he spent too long on video games and encouraging him to do well in school. She was a bit shameless when it came to Zen; she’d seen some of his works in the past and had come to admire his dedication to the arts, spending time either admiring the selfies he shared to the chat or discussing the various DVDs he starred in with Jaehee. Jaehee was a force to be reckoned with and probably one of the reasons Jumin’s branch of C&R did so well, with the amount of work he piled onto her in addition to his (literal) pet projects. Once they were married, Soo Min mused into her coffee, she’d have to make sure that Jumin gave Jaehee a well-deserved holiday. Lord knew the woman needed one… or twenty. 

She couldn’t quite understand Luciel or Jumin, much to Soo Min’s frustration. While Luciel seemed to care almost too much, Jumin came across as not caring enough, but she was starting to see through their facades: Jumin showed he cared through hired bodyguards and using his wealth to make life easier for the RFA members, something the rest made fun of him for but Soo Min found admirable. She’d do the same thing with her wealth if she had genuine friends like Jumin did, but instead she donated what she could to charity to do her part. Maybe she could consider the RFA her friends as well, but there was still distrust in the chat despite Luciel’s reassurances that Soo Min wasn’t going to ruin them all.

Speaking of Luciel… Lord, was he a puzzle to figure out. He wore a smiling mask that she far too often wore herself, a mask that hid what she truly felt from the world that wanted in on the nitty-gritty details of her life. She knew that his job was a secret yet dangerous, only letting the RFA know that he was a hacker that was otherwise dangerous to the group. Why V had let a dangerous hacker into a charity group was beyond Soo Min’s comprehension, but she let the suspicion slide off of her back as she pushed the door to C&R open and escaped the cold winter air, bodyguards supplied by Jumin flanking her either side with coffee cups of their own. They couldn’t know the location of Rika’s apartment, of course, but they trailed her everywhere else, so it was the least she could do to supply them coffee to fight off the bitter cold.

“Ah, Miss Jung!” Jaehee called from further back in the lobby, and Soo Min grinned as the chief assistant rushed over to her side with a pleasant smile. “You’re here early. Your meeting with Mr. Han and Chairman Han isn’t due to start for another hour yet.”

Soo Min glanced at one of her bodyguards and took one of the extra coffee cups from him, handing it to a surprised Jaehee. “I thought I’d make a coffee run for everyone after dealing with some RFA business. I wasn’t sure how you liked it, but I brought some creams and sugar packets if you don’t like it black.”

Jaehee shook her head and sipped the drink happily, a genuine smile blossoming on her face. “No, it’s perfect. Thank you, Miss Jung.”

“I told you to call me Soo Min, Jaehee. We’re in the RFA together now, aren’t we?”

“That doesn’t stop Mr. Han from calling me Assistant Kang, if you recall.” The two women chuckled and Jaehee led Soo Min to Jumin’s empty office, opening it for her to shed her coat and set down the last extra cup for him. “How are the invitations going?” Jaehee continued. Soo Min shrugged.

“They’re… interesting. I still have no idea how I’m managing to email back and forth with Long Cat, but it’s working out rather well. I think we’ll have a successful party if we keep this rate up.” Soo Min chewed her lip and smoothed out her jacket on its hook, staring at nothing for a moment before continuing. “Do you think we’ll get the hacker, Jaehee?”

Jaehee didn’t speak at first, and she started to panic when she finally responded. “I trust in Luciel’s ability to find the hacker, so yes. Don’t you?”

“That’s asking for a lot,” she joked nervously. It was true, though; in the time she had gotten to know Luciel in Jumin’s penthouse, she trusted that he could hack into just about anything. He was extremely talented and made what she found difficult look easy. Honestly, Soo Min was jealous of his skill. “Asking if I trust a guy after not even a week is a bit fast. He is very talented though, you’re right about that. The hacker just seems one step ahead of him, though. It’s enough to make even the most confident person a tad nervous.”

“Well isn’t this your field too?” Jaehee asked.

“No, I just fix things. If anything is broken, I can fix it about as easily as Luciel can hack into a database.” Soo Min sipped at her drink again and watched Jaehee contemplatively. “Does he seem distracted to you?”

“He always seems distracted to me,” the assistant said dryly, and Soo Min snorted in agreement.

“Yeah, you’re right. Stupid question.” The two looked up as the office door opened and Jumin walked in, phone to his ear and eyes a bit wide in surprise at the unexpected company. Soo Min gave him a small smile and waited for him to hang up on his call before she said, “I figured we could go to the meeting with our fathers together. That, and I brought you coffee.” She paused. “Unless you don’t want to, obviously.”

“No, it’s fine,” Jumin said slowly, sipping at the coffee on his desk and humming in what Soo Min hoped was approval. “We can go together. Assistant Kang, don’t let anyone try and disturb our lunch. I don’t want a repeat of Choi Sarah during this deal.” 

Jaehee nodded, and Soo Min raised her eyebrows at Jumin. “Choi Sarah?”

An amused smirk played at his lips. “That… is a story for another day. Let’s just say I’m thankful you seem much more sane than the last woman who attempted to gain my hand in marriage.” He offered his arm to her, the image of a perfect gentleman, and Soo Min felt her heart beat a bit faster as she took his arm. “Driver Kim will take us to the restaurant. It’s a short drive and we already have a table reserved, so you shouldn’t need your jacket. Are you ready to go?”

Soo Min nodded and gave him a smile, perking up when he returned it with a fuller one than before. “I’m ready," she said, and the two walked out to the limousine that awaited them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so when i started this i started writing without a plot in mind, which might make chapter one a bit out of line with the rest of what i write. i plan on fixing that after i have the rest written out. as of right now, here's the plan: i'm going to loosely follow jumin's good route and mix in elements from seven's route. i'm leaving both jumin/mc and seven/mc as tags bc this is turning into a sort of love triangle atm that won't go away. soo min loves both her boys what can i say lmao
> 
> update schedule will be inconsistent/aka i'll post as i finish, but since i'm on winter break and only have one class to focus on, i should be posting one or two chapters per week! 
> 
> in the meantime, if you wanna squeal about pixels with me, follow me on tumblr and shoot me an ask: http://badger-wife.tumblr.com


	4. Chapter 4

Soo Min had butterflies in her stomach, but for the life of her she had no idea why. It wasn’t as if she’d never gone to a meeting before in her life—meetings were her life, frankly, ever since she was old enough to start looking over departments of the company in her father’s eyes. This meeting was going to determine not only the future for her father’s well-off company, but her own personal future as well. Maybe that was why she had butterflies.

That and Jumin was sitting rather close for a large limo.

The man in question was typing something on his phone, his eyes hardly straying over to her, and Soo Min chewed the inside of her cheek as she studied him. They were opposites, her and Jumin, in one glaring way above any other: where she let her emotions help guide her into her decision-making, Jumin did his best to be devoid of any emotion at all in both his work life and his personal life. It had been initially jarring, because despite her father’s near-constant absence in her childhood her home had been full of life. She and her brother Joon would put on puppet shows for the Jung family staff in the most dramatic ways imaginable, doubling their efforts when their father had the chance to be home and see their performances. She distinctly remembered their nanny sitting them down one time and telling them both that it was okay to react emotionally: “If you feel the need to cry, then do so,” she had said. “If you feel the need to laugh, don’t hold back. Reacting in these ways are entirely human, and no matter what the adults will tell you it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

She’d taken that to heart, so to meet Jumin for the first time and see him do barely more than give her a cursory glance had thrown Soo Min for a loop. It was an effort to get him to open up even the tiniest amount, and when she’d first gotten him to grace her with his own brand of dry humor she hadn’t stopped smiling for the rest of the day (never mind that it had taken her two weeks). It was through that constant pestering that she had managed to get him to open up to her, and now a month and a half into their friendship Soo Min thought that the butterflies in her stomach should have been long gone.

That was until Jumin’s thigh brushed her own and she felt her cheeks heat up. Of course, that was the moment Jumin decided to look up from his phone, and embarrassment flooded through her at his concerned expression.

“You look ill,” Jumin said. “Your cheeks are red. Are you feeling alright?”

“Yep!” Soo Min said a bit too loudly, mentally slapping her forehead and pasting on a wide smile. He didn’t buy it for a moment, and she didn’t expect him too, but she’d been hoping anyway. “Just peachy. It’s--it’s a little warm in here, that’s all.”

“Really?” Jumin leaned forward and knocked on the dividing widow. “Driver Kim, turn down the temperature back here. Thank you.” Her lips quirked up, and Jumin raised his eyebrows when he looked back at her. “What?”

“Stop the presses, Han Jumin is thanking his employees. Wait until Zen hears you have common human decency.”

Jumin actually _laughed_ , and Soo Min’s chest puffed in pride. “I don’t know his problem with me,” Jumin said. “His rivalry with me is purely one-sided, I assure you.”

“Oh, I figured as much,” she conceded. “It’s a bit amusing really. I’m surprised he hasn’t turned his dialogue for you towards me, since we’re in the same social status.”

“It’s because you’re female,” Jumin said breezily. “Were you male he’d likely hate you just as much, but he wants to woo you so he’s made an exception. Honestly he’s a hypocrite.”

“Would you have him any other way?”

“Do I really have to answer that?”

Soo Min burst out laughing as the limo stopped, a grin still on her face and an amused smile on Jumin’s as he got out and held his arm out for her to take. She took it gladly and stepped closer to him for warmth, following him toward the restaurant and ignoring the pounding in her chest. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a few flashes in quick succession, and she glanced over in time to see a few paparazzi scampering away. Her smile faded a bit, and Soo Min huffed in annoyance.

“We’ll probably be on the front page somewhere tomorrow,” she said quietly, and Jumin subtly looked where she’d been looking. His reaction was the same as hers, and Soo Min was grateful for the solidarity.

“Nothing either of us haven’t gone through before,” he said. “Besides, neither of our fathers have stopped talks by now, so whatever those gossip mongers write about us will likely be true within the next year or so.”

“I can see the headline now: C&R heir Han Jumin and A.I.E. heiress Jung Soo Min seen on a _romantic_ date! All details on page three.”

“Like they haven’t had about four other dates to see us out and report on.”

Soo Min smirked and leaned into him further. “Why Jumin, have you been considering our outings as dates?” Her smirk turned into a grin when she saw a dusting of pink on his cheeks, and it took all of her will to not jump up and down at her success.

“Have you not been?” he asked.

“I’ve been holding out on my verdict.”

“And have you come to a conclusion?” Jumin held the door open for her, and Soo Min finally let go of his arm as she responded:

“I’ve loved our dates, Han Jumin, and I’m looking forward to many more in the future.”

“I’m sure I can arrange that, Jung Soo Min. Now let’s not keep our father’s waiting, yes?”

“If you insist.”

 

\---

 

> **JAEHEE KANG ENTERED THE CHAT ROOM**
> 
> **Jaehee Kang sent a link.**
> 
> **Jaehee:** Mr. Han is there a reason you didn’t see fit to tell me you and Soo Min were officially engaged?
> 
> **Jaehee:** My phone has been blowing up all morning with requests for interviews with both you and Soo Min…
> 
> **SOO MIN ENTERED THE CHAT ROOM**
> 
> **Soo Min:** ???
> 
> **Soo Min:** wtf that’s not public information yet??? brb lemme check the link
> 
> **Jaehee sent a … emoji.**
> 
> **Jaehee:** If that’s the case then the press is either more observant than usual, jumping to conclusions, or someone leaked the information.
> 
> **Soo Min:** those are the pics the paps took yesterday on the way to our meeting
> 
> **Soo Min:** my guess is jumping to conclusions tbh, gossip mongers aren’t THAT smart
> 
> **Soo Min** : BUT since the cat is outta the bag surprise! we are officially engaged!!
> 
> **Soo Min:** :D :D :D
> 
> **707 HAS ENTERED THE CHAT ROOM**
> 
> **707 sent a shocked emoji.**
> 
> **707:** you’re finally engaged?! no more cat wedding for my darling elly T_T
> 
> **707:** though we should invite the priest i’d arranged anyway to the party lol, i spent good time getting him to agree to such a wedding
> 
> **Jaehee sent a … emoji.**
> 
> **Soo Min:** do i even want to know how you managed to do that
> 
> **707:** nope!
> 
> **Soo Min:**...send him my info
> 
> **Soo Min:** also you should make me my own emojis, i’m feeling left out ;-;
> 
> **707:** once again a programming and hacking slave
> 
> **707 sent a sad emoji.**
> 
> **Jaehee:** Well she is part of the RFA, Luciel. It’s only right that she gets emojis.
> 
> **Soo Min:** thank you jaehee <3
> 
> **707:** don’t worry soo min, i’ll make you emojis!
> 
> **707:** unfortunately that’s not entirely the reason i’m here though
> 
> **Jaehee:**?
> 
> **Soo Min:**???
> 
> **707:** i’ve been trying to contact V to talk about this but he won’t answer so i’m just gonna spill it
> 
> **707:** rika’s apartment has a bomb in it
> 
> **707:** and it’s been hacked by unknown
> 
> **Jaehee:** WHAT
> 
> **Jaehee:** Soo Min go to Mr. Han’s penthouse until this is resolved
> 
> **707:** NO DON’T it’ll go off if anyone enters or leaves from the RFA
> 
> **707:** i’m heading your way rn Soo Min so i can hack my way through and get inside
> 
> **707:** then i’m gonna deactivate the bomb and make sure unknown stays out, so just stay put
> 
> **707:** soo min?
> 
> **Jaehee:** Soo Min are you still there?
> 
> **Soo Min:** …
> 
> **SOO MIN HAS LEFT THE CHAT ROOM**
> 
> **707:** shit

 

\---

 

A bomb.

She was living over a bomb.

Her mind flashed back to the dinner she’d had with Jumin that night, where he’d brought a ring for her and everything “to make it more official” as he’d put it. He’d asked her to stay that night because they both had a meeting at C&R the following morning, but the RFA emails weren’t going to send themselves and she’d insisted on going back to Rika’s. Soo Min looked down at her ring finger, at the surprisingly small diamond that rested there, and twisted it in worry. She felt cold and sluggish, as if time had decided to slow down around her, and she curled up tighter on Rika’s sofa as her phone continued to buzz with chat notifications.

How long had she been living over a bomb? Probably about a week, maybe a day or so more, yet it was still a week and some days too long for her liking. Another notification lit up her screen, and Luciel’s chat name stared at her piercingly. How long had he known about the bomb? Was this something V had hidden from him as well, or had he known about it the entire time? Her phone buzzed yet again, this time with a private text to her. She opened it despite herself and stared uncertainly.

> **707:** i should be able to get into the apartment just fine now. i’m omw. see you soon.
> 
> **707:** i’ll explain everything when i get there, i promise

But could she trust that he would?

Yoosung always went on about V hiding secrets from the RFA, and though she trusted him out of respect for his friendship with Jumin, Soo Min couldn’t deny that there was some credibility behind Yoosung’s suspicions. So many decisions were made on behalf of the RFA by their president without the members of their organization being consulted with first, and for a highly respected president by most of the members V was hardly around to lead like he should. She knew she couldn’t judge too harshly; from her understanding, V had been there when Rika had killed herself. She didn’t blame him for taking years to get over the grief of losing his fiancee in such a manner.

Then again, when her mother had died, her father had worked through his grief because A.I.E. had depended on his leadership. He had still talked with his employees and made very few executive decisions without someone else’s opinion being considered, and though he’d always been distant because of work he hadn’t dropped off the face of the earth either. From the chats she’d seen in the past week, Luciel was one of two people V contacted on a daily basis, and he even told Luciel things he wouldn’t tell Jumin. That, of course, lead to another question, one that Soo Min wasn’t sure she was ready to face head-on:

If she could hardly trust V’s judgement compared to her past similar experiences, how could she trust that Luciel wasn’t also hiding things for her supposed “own good”?

“If he spouts shit like that I’m ripping him a new one,” Soo Min muttered under her breath, heading toward the bedroom and pulling on a sweater she had laying across her bedsheets. The chill wouldn’t go away, and she started pacing as the minutes ticked by. Every second Luciel wasn’t there to deactivate the bomb was a second of stress she didn’t want to put herself through, and she was sure the stress would literally kill her if he took too long to get there. She was about to pull out her phone and call Jumin when something--no, some _one_ \--crashed through the window, sending shards of glass everywhere and cutting her cheek. Soo Min shouted and got as far away from the window as possible, staring at the intruder in completely shock.

He was pale with unnatural white hair and pink dyed tips, and his smile was a bit manic. On his arm was an intricate swirling tattoo with what resembled the Eye of Horus at the center of the design, which was cut off by the red sweatshirt that sagged loosely over his shoulder. His choker confirmed the whole 2000s-emo-vibe she’d linked to him on her five-second first impression of him, but what caught her attention most were his mint-colored eyes. They seemed bottomless and almost hurting despite the grin he showed her, darting all over the apartment as if he expected someone to show up and attack him--which was likely, considering the fact that Luciel was still on his way.

God she hoped he was still on his way.

Soo Min took a deep breath and straightened her posture, staring the intruder dead on and composing her face into a more neutral expression. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been kidnapped before, after all. When one came from a wealthy family, people did all sorts of crazy shit to try and get the wealthy to do their bidding. This one just happened to be more violent than she could immediately recall.

“Unknown, I presume?” she asked, proud that her voice didn’t waver. Frankly she was terrified, but it wouldn’t do anyone any good if she freaked out now.

“Smart woman,” Unknown said, extending a hand to her. “I told you I’d be back for you. Allow me, Jung Soo Min, to take you to paradise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here's where seven's route starts to intermingle! i'll try to get one more update in before the new year, but if i don't i wish all my readers a safe and happy new year! 
> 
> as always, please leave kudos and comments if you're enjoying this! comments inspire me to keep going and help me to improve the story for you all.
> 
> visit my tumblr: http://badger-wife.tumblr.com


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mind content warning for blood mention in relation to some injuries! stay safe my loves

When Soo Min was five years old, she’d gone through her first kidnapping. 

Needless to say, it was a  _ very _ traumatic experience for a five year old, especially when her younger brother had been knocked out cold and literally dragged across the dirty concrete floor of the kidnapper’s hideout for being “too difficult”. She’d been so proud of her twin for putting up a fight against people who obviously wanted to hurt them, but as much as she’d wanted to do what he did and bite at their hands, Soo Min had been frozen in shock and terror while the grown men manhandled the two children and negotiated the terms for their release. Joon had needed to stay in the hospital for two days after that, and Soo Min had developed an intense fear of being left alone since then, something that only grew with the three other kidnappings during her childhood. Despite the trauma she was still too trusting for her own good, and yet she rarely trusted her own gut instincts when it came to self-preservation. 

Example one: following an unknown number and ending up in a dead woman’s apartment. 

Example two: willingly staying in the apartment that only two people knew the address to and one of those two refused to share with the rest. 

The most amusing part of her current situation, if any of this  _ could _ be considered amusing, was that for all his pomp and circumstance, Unknown wasn’t very good at making himself look unthreatening. Everything from the slightly manic look his eyes fixed on her to his grunge-esque outfit screamed  _ get away, I’m a madman _ to any sane person, and Soo Min honestly didn’t want to touch whatever Unknown considered paradise with a three-meter pole. He was still holding his hand out for her, as if expecting her to take it willingly, and Soo Min stared at the hand until he finally lowered it, his smile fading with it. The hand looked soft, she thought idly, and when she looked back at Unknown’s face she couldn’t help thinking he looked familiar. 

“I know you have no reason to trust me,” Unknown started, and Soo Min laughed in his face. 

“Yeah, no shit. You just broke into my apartment and told me to follow you. Why would anyone follow you after that entrance?”

His jaw twitched and she grinned at her victory. “So this is how we’re going to be? Fine, I can work with that. Stay over there, alright? I don’t want you to cut your feet on the glass.” He started making his way toward her, and Soo Min grabbed the first thing she could to use as a weapon—an empty beer bottle.  _ Zen would be proud _ , she mused, and she held it toward Unknown. 

“Move another step closer and I’ll smash this over your head,” she hissed, and the intruding hacker held up his hands as if that would make him appear less threatening. 

“I mean you no harm, Soo Min, so long as you cooperate,” he said smoothly. “Though I would suggest not trying my patience, unless you want to see me lose my cool.”

“You’ll understand if I don’t believe you,” she said dryly. “What do you want with me?”

Unknown’s smile returned, and Soo Min suppressed a shudder. “I told you earlier: I’m here to bring you to paradise. Mint Eye will welcome you and the rest of the RFA with open arms. Well, everyone except V and Luciel of course.”

What? “Why are they not invited?”

“Why would we want dirty rotten liars spoiling our eternity?” Unknown snapped, the venom in his voice startling her. She took another step back and Unknown seemed to calm down in response, sticking his smile back on. She really wished he’d stop using it; it was creepy. “The rest of you remain invited, of course.”

“And if I don’t want to join you?”

Unknown burst into laughter. “Who said you have a choice? I brought you to the RFA, Soo Min, and I will lead you out with its members following gleefully. All you have to do is take my hand.”

Soo Min wanted to call for help. She wanted to phone Jumin, or Luciel, or even V as much as she didn’t entirely trust him—she wanted  _ anyone _ to provide her with some sort of backup. She didn’t have a chance, though, let alone a choice, and the split second Unknown was providing her was the only moment she’d probably have to either fight back or let it happen. Her mind went back to Joon, how he had kicked and hit and screamed until he couldn’t anymore when confronted with those kidnappers. He may have been younger by a few minutes, but Soo Min aspired to have half the courage her twin had. 

Fuck it. “All of you kidnappers are the same,” Soo Min said, adjusting her grip on the bottleneck. “And honestly? I’m getting sick of it. Go to hell, motherfucker.” With that, Soo Min brought the bottle in her hand down against Unknown’s head with all of her might, the sound of breaking glass echoing through the apartment for the second time that night along with Unknown’s surprised about. He stumbled back from either the injury or his shock (maybe both), and Soo Min threw the remnants of the bottle at him before running to shove him to the floor, grunting with the effort and thankful for how easily the carpet under the coffee table upturned. All the times she’d tripped over it while going about her business paid off as Unknown fell over the lip and hit his head against the edge of the table, effectively knocking himself out. The only sound after that was her panting from exertion, and she ignored the pain in her foot that was probably the glass Unknown had warned her about as she went to find something to tie the hacker up with until Luciel arrived. 

Maybe if she asked nicely, he’d bring her a stiff drink too. Lord knew she needed it. 

 

\---

 

It took Luciel another half an hour to get to Rika’s apartment, and by the time he entered Soo Min had managed to drag Unknown toward the kitchen and tied him to one of the cabinets. It wasn’t the most secure method of handling a potential kidnapper, and the cabinets could still  _ open _ , but she’d tied each hand to a different one so—theoretically—the only thing he’d be able to really do is flap the cabinet doors at her like an angry bird when he woke up. The thought amused her, and she was sure she looked a bit mad herself when upon entering Luciel was met with Soo Min giggling to herself and plucking glass from her foot, blood dripping all over the kitchen floor and making a general mess of everything (as blood normally did).

“What happened here?” Luciel asked, and maybe it was the blood loss talking as she looked up and grinned, exclaiming, “Seven!” and attempting to get up on her injured foot. He dropped the bags he was carrying (and they sounded so heavy there  _ had _ to be at least a few laptops there) and rushed to shove her back into her seat, not even paying attention to the captured hacker as he went through Rika’s cabinets until he found a first-aid kit. Soo Min didn’t put up too much of a fight when he took the tweezers from her and started searching for the rest of the glass, letting her head fall back against the chair’s backrest and closing her eyes. 

“This is gonna be such a bitch to clean up,” she whined, wincing as Luciel got the last of the glass out of her foot with some pain. Usually she bragged about her high pain tolerance; as it turned out, even she had a limit. “Ow.”

“Sorry.” Luciel sighed and sat on his feet, wrapping her foot and setting it in his lap. “You’ll need stitches. I’ll take you to A&E after I finish with the bomb business. What happened here, anyway?”

She tilted her head toward the still-unconscious hacker. “He broke in through the window. That’s our hacker, by the way. He kept going on about this paradise or whatever called Mint Eye. Sounds more like a cult if you ask me, but hey! What do I know?” Soo Min thought about continuing to ramble, but one look at Luciel’s decidedly paler face made her stop. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“He’s the hacker?”

“...yes?”

“Shit.  _ Saeran _ .” Scrambled was the only appropriate word Soo Min could think of for what Luciel did, going toward Unknown and looking him over as if he were both a ghost and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Soo Min frowned and straightened herself in her chair, ignoring the growing pain in her foot and lowering herself to the floor. Seeing them side-by-side brought back the passing thought from earlier that Unknown looked familiar, and she sucked in a surprised breath as she put the pieces together. 

“You two are related, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Are you twins?”

Luciel finally looked at Soo Min. “How did—?”

She held her hand up. “You’re pretty identical for one, and I’m a twin myself. Fraternal, mind you, but I have a good eye for this stuff because of Joon.” Her hand lowered, and Soo Min stares at Unknown thoughtfully. “I’ll be honest, I’m still a bit delirious, but I tried to fix him up as best as I could. I would’ve been more gentle if I’d realized he was your twin.”

Luciel snorted humorlessly. “No, I’m glad you weren’t. If he’s Unknown, he would’ve come here to hurt you, not befriend you. I understand.” He reached up to look at the scabbing wound Soo Min had inflicted on his head, wincing at the size and the white hair that had become its natural red around the area of said wound. Unknown muttered in his unconscious state but made no indication that he was waking up, and Soo Min chewed her lip in thought. 

“We should take him to the hospital too,” she said. “He might need staples on that.”

“No,” Luciel said quickly, the intensity of his gaze startling her. “No, that’s alright. I had some training in things like this for my job.”

“Seriously?” she asked, and Luciel offered her a small, albeit strained, smile for the first time that night. 

“Need I remind you that what I do isn’t entirely legal half the time?” he chided before handing her his phone. “Text Vanderwood the address of the apartment. She’ll help through her complaints to patch you two up.”

“Wait. Your maid is allowed to know RFA secrets?” Luciel fixed her with a look, and Soo Min sighed. “Another lie I take it?”

“It’s a very secret agency. Now shoo.”

Soo Min sighed but complied, unsure if she should be annoyed with Luciel’s bossy attitude. It was different from the happy-go-lucky personality that she’d come to associate with the RFA hacker, but she supposed that was a persona he’d had to adapt to make it in the agency he worked for. Who, then, was the real Choi Luciel? She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes as he attended to his brother, wearing the most serious expression  she’d seen adorn his face. It was strange but not quite uncomfortable, just another fact to add to her mental file filled with tidbits about Choi Luciel. Soo Min sent off the message to Vanderwood and set Luciel’s phone down between them, kicking her leg out and taking her own phone out. 

“Can I ask you something?” she asked. 

“Only if I get to ask you something,” he responded, though the cheer wasn’t fully there to her disappointment. Not that she expected him to remain the same after finding out his brother was the one making his life difficult lately. 

“That sounds like a fair deal,” she said. 

“Then ask away.”

Soo Min chewed the inside of her cheek. “Is Luciel your real name?”

Luciel stopped what he was doing. “No, it’s my baptismal name. Though it’s my legal name now.”

“Then what’s your real name?”

He raised an eyebrow. “That’s two questions.”

She huffed, and fought a grin when she made him laugh quietly. “Please?”

The laugh didn’t last long, and Luciel shook his head. “Maybe someday, but for right now I’d rather keep it to myself.”

That was reasonable, though she didn’t like it. Soo Min sighed and nodded. “Okay. Your turn.”

“Could you keep Saeran being my brother to yourself? I don’t want anyone in the RFA to know until I’m ready to tell them who he is… and whether or not we’ll be in contact with one another again.”

He looked so  _ torn _ , it broke Soo Min’s heart. No matter what Unknown—no, what  _ Saeran _ said about his brother, Soo Min trusted Luciel with her life. It had been such a short time since she’d come to know him, and she already considered him one of her best friends and a trusted confidant. She’d never had many friends outside of Joon in her life, and she wasn’t about to ruin that friendship by spouting information that wasn’t hers to share. Soo Min nodded in agreement and reached to place a hand over his own, squeezing it and meeting his amber eyes with her green ones. 

“I won’t tell anyone until you’re ready to tell them,” Soo Min said. “I promise Luciel.”

“Thank you,” Luciel said, turning his hand over and squeezing her hand back. The two watched each other for a moment before Luciel pulled his hand away to continue cleaning Saeran’s wound, and just like that their little moment of trust and companionship was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shorter chapter, but it didn't feel right to add anything else to this scene so here we are! i always love a kickass MC so here's Soo Min, not taking Saeran's shit and not going down without a fight. as always, comments are appreciated! i wish all my readers a safe and happy new year, and i'll see you in 2019!


	6. Chapter 6

By the time Saeran woke up from his ill-fated and failed attack, Soo Min was already settled on the sofa in the living room with a full view of the kitchen, her head pounding significantly less than the hacker’s probably was but keeping her from well-deserved sleep nevertheless. Her foot was throbbing from the glass that had embedded itself into it earlier, and despite the patching up both Luciel and Vanderwood had given her, it wasn’t enough to keep from bothering her. Soo Min heard them closer to the broken window talking among one another, Vanderwood quietly scolding Luciel over what she presumed was work-related, and the chilled winter breeze that came from said window made her shiver as she gave up on sleep entirely. 

Perhaps it would be easier for her to go to  her Rika’s bedroom, but despite the brave face she’d put on since Saeran had made his dramatic entrance into her life physically Soo Min really didn’t want to be alone at the moment. She twisted the ring on her finger for the umpteenth time since Saeran broke in and sighed, wishing that she could tell Jumin or Joon the address to Rika’s apartment so she could have some sort of comfort. Joon would completely overlook the hacker in the kitchen and make popcorn if that’s what would make her happier, and her fond smile at the thought of her brother turned into an amused smirk when she tried to imagine Jumin offering her comfort. 

She just pictured him patting her shoulder or head awkwardly and offering factual words meant for encouragement, and Soo Min couldn’t stop her snort. 

“What are you laughing at?” a voice sneered at her, and Soo Min looked at the now-awake hacker who looked more than a little dazed, which was the only reason she could think of for him to not break out of her makeshift bonds easily. Unless, of course, Luciel and Vanderwood replaces the bonds with agency-approved ones while she drifted in and out of sleep. Soo Min sighed and tugged her blanket across her shoulders, getting up and limping toward one of the chairs at the kitchen table. 

Saeran looked worse than her, frankly. Bringing a potential (if not actual) terrorist to the hospital was far from a good idea, she realized, but even with an agent’s care she had still winced at the sheared hair that revealed the wound she’d inflicted on him earlier. The bald spot could be easily covered if he groomed his hair the right way, but something told her he wasn’t fond of change. The bags under his eyes concerned her in particular, eerily similar to the ones Luciel sported the longer she knew him, and instead of answering his question Soo Min just shrugged. 

“You look like shit,” she said. 

“I feel like shit,” he responded. “Let me go.”

“Can’t do that. Are you in pain? I can get you some ibuprofen if you need some.”

He snorted. “You whacked me upside the head with a bottle, and now you want to fix me up? You’re a strange woman.”

“Yeah, well, you won’t let Luciel anywhere near you to help,” Soo Min mentioned, quietly observing as Saeran made a disgusted face at the mention of his twin and looked away from her. “Why do you hate him so much? He’s your brother.”

Saeran tugged  _ hard _ against his restraints, the cabinets he was secured to pulling out enough to let him get closer to her. She could feel his breath against her bare leg and shuttered, scooting back to what she hoped was a safe distance from the madman. 

“He’s no brother to me,” he hissed. “Don’t  _ ever _ mention him around me. I don’t want to see him, I don’t want to hear him, and the only reason that redhead is alive right now is because you fucking bashed my head open with a beer bottle. If you ever want the opportunity to enter paradise, you’ll refrain from mentioning  _ him _ around me again.”

Well that was… concerning, to put it mildly. Soo Min frowned and held the blanket tighter around her shoulders, standing up again and resting most of her weight on her left foot. “I think I’m okay with not going to this paradise you keep mentioning,” she said slowly. “But thanks anyway. I think.” She turned on her heel and limped her way over to Luciel and Vanderwood, drowning at the code that was littering the screens of the multiple laptops Luciel had brought to the apartment. Not for the first time, Soo Min cursed herself quietly for not understanding coding as well as an AI heiress should, and she leaned against the wall beside them to grab their attention. 

“You shouldn’t be seeing this,” Vanderwood grumbled, and her lips quirked up. 

“I won’t tell a soul. Saeran is awake, Luciel.”

The redhead immediately scrambled up to his feet at the news and started rushing toward the kitchen, but Vanderwood and Soo Min each grabbed an arm to keep him from getting further than the sofa. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep back her pained cry as she stepped onto her injured foot, and Soo Min leaned a bit heavily against Luciel as he glared at the two. 

“Why are you stopping me?” he snapped. “That’s my brother in there!”

“I just talked to him, Luciel, and he  _ literally told me _ that if he were unbound he would murder you on the spot,” Soo Min yelled back. “I’m not sure what happened between the two of you, but if you value your life you won’t go in there right now.”

“Bold of you to assume I value my life at all,” Luciel grumbled, and it took all her energy to not whack the other Choi twin on the head as well. Vanderwood must have seen her expression, because he started laughing. 

“You saw what she did to what’s-his-name, 707. Calm down.”

“Madam, you should I know I never calm down,” Luciel said with a strained smile, and Vanderwood twitched his free hand toward his side.

“I’m not afraid to tase you, asshole,” he huffed, and Luciel effectively stopped struggling against their grips. Soo Min sighed in relief and let her grip relax, hand still resting on his arm partially in case he tried to bolt again, and partially because she was afraid she’d lose balance if she let go. Soo Min could almost feel Saeran’s gaze on the back of her head, and she suppressed a shudder as she sat Luciel back down. 

“What matters right now is figuring out where this Mint Eye place is,” she said slowly. “He said something about bringing everyone but you and V to this so-called paradise, so he has to be working for them right?”

Luciel slowly nodded and looked back at his computer screen, though he seemed far less focused than he had been when they’d both reviewed Jumin’s CCTV a few days back. Back then he’d almost been hyper-focused, fingers typing away without a mistake while he joked with her about who-knows-what; now, Luciel kept twitching every few seconds even with Vanderwood there to keep him in check, his eyes darting toward the kitchen where his brother sat and, surprisingly, toward the couch when Soo Min settled back there to rest her foot. It was a bit unnerving to be under the scrutiny of the RFA’s Defender of Justice, but she’d be lying if she said she minded the attention he kept sending her way. 

_ Stop that, _ she scolded herself, touching her ring to keep her grounded.  _ You’re engaged. You can’t be catching feelings now that you’re off the market.  _ Soo Min huffed in frustration and fought back a yawn, opening her phone to an active chat room with everyone but her and Luciel effectively freaking out about the bomb situation. 

Oh. Right. 

> **SOO MIN HAS ENTERED THE CHAT ROOM.**
> 
> **Yoosung sent a shocked emoji.**
> 
> **Yoosung** : SOO MIN ARE YOU OKAY
> 
> **Yoosung** : YOUVE BEEN GONE FOR HOURS WITHOUT A WORD TELL US YOU DIDNT BLOW UP
> 
> **Jaehee Kang:** She wouldn’t be here if she’d blown up, Yoosung. Calm down. 
> 
> **Soo Min:** lmao guys i’m okay, just have a cut foot from some glass
> 
> **ZEN:** glass?????
> 
> **Soo Min:** oh yeah um
> 
> **Soo Min:** about that
> 
> **Soo Min:** the hacker may have broken through the window to try and kidnap me???
> 
> **ZEN sent a shocked emoji.**
> 
> **ZEN:** WHAT
> 
> **Soo Min:** but i’m okay! i hit him in the head with a beer bottle and tied him up until seven got here
> 
> **Soo Min:** i’m proud of myself tbh be proud of me guys
> 
> **Jumin Han sent a smiling emoji.**
> 
> **Jumin Han:** Very resourceful. Well done. 
> 
> **ZEN:** that’s my girl!
> 
> **Jumin Han:** I’m sorry, “you’re girl”?
> 
> **Jumin Han:** That’s my fiancée, not “your girl”
> 
> **Soo Min:** aw jumin are you protecting me from zen’s beast??
> 
> **Yoosung:** …
> 
> **Yoosung:** don’t even joke about that 
> 
> **Yoosung:** none of us want to know about zen’s “beast”
> 
> **Jaehee Kang:** ...speak for yourself

Soo Min snorted in amusement and rolled onto her side, sending the group a goodnight and leaving after reassuring them that she was okay and that Luciel would (probably) provide them details while she rested. She looked over at the two agents and sighed quietly, sending Luciel a goodnight text and smiling when he immediately looked at it despite Vanderwood’s nagging, the redhead glancing over his shoulder and smiling back at her. She was about to finally drift off again when her phone began to buzz, Jumin’s contact photo filling the screen. 

“Hello?” she asked, trying to keep the sleep from her voice. 

“Did I wake you?” Jumin asked, and Soo Min cursed quietly at her obvious failure. 

“No, I was still awake.” Mostly. “You should get some sleep though, Jumin. It’s late.”

“Funny, I was about to say the same to you.” He sighed. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go to Rika’s tonight. I should’ve listened to myself as always. That’ll be the last time I don’t.”

“Hey, listen to me: none of this is your fault. This hacker… he seems really intent on doing harm to us, Jumin. All of us. Luciel’s got an eye on him right now—“  _ Kind of _ , she left out. “—and he’s working on finding his headquarters now. Please don’t blame yourself for any of this.”

“I wish I could say that makes me feel better,” he admitted, and Soo Min held back a smartass comment about Jumin admitting to  _ feeling _ things. “but I won’t lie to you. However, if you say you’re alright, I’m going to trust you’re telling the truth and believe you. I do think you should come back to my penthouse tomorrow though. It’ll be safer than living with a bomb.”

Soo Min glanced at Luciel again and chewed her bottom lip uncertainly. “I’ll have to talk to Luciel about that,” she said slowly. “The bomb seems stable right now, but I think he’s still working on making sure it stays stable. I’ll try though, I promise.”

“I suppose that’s all I can ask for,” he said. “Just keep me updated, alright?”

“Yes dear,” Soo Min teased, and she giggled as she heard Jumin choke on what she guessed was wine. “Now go get some rest, and let Jaehee rest too. She deserves a break.”

“Soo Min…”

Her heart pounded. “Yes?”

“...never mind, it was nothing important. Sleep well.”

She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t disappointed, but Soo Min sighed and bid him goodnight before hanging up. Sleep didn’t come easy that night, but between the grumbling from the kitchen and the key tapping from the living room corner, she eventually fell asleep wondering what Jumin had been about to say. 

 

\---

 

For an apartment that had two intelligence agents, a (literal) bomb security system, and a light sleeper like Soo Min crashing on the couch for most of the night, none of them could figure out how the hell Saeran had gotten something sharp enough to cut through the ropes Vanderwood had tied him with when he’d arrived and left without anyone noticing. Luciel had always gone on about his lack of a sleep schedule, but everyone had to sleep at some point, so she assumed that he had dozed in a rare moment of being human, and Vanderwood…

Well. She still wasn’t sure what to make of Vanderwood. 

Maybe Mint Eye had trained him to be more than just a hacker, but none of her musings mattered when she’d been woken up by Luciel’s  _ screech _ about his twin brother having escaped followed by Vanderwood’s half-lecture about agents not having family, the other half of his attention focused on his phone to find what she supposed were contacts. Soo Min stared at the cut up ropes as the two agents went on about the hacker getting away with various degrees of urgency, more impressed that Saeran had been able to pull a vanishing act like that than anything. Luciel’s ranting was starting to give her a headache, though, and Soo Min huffed and set herself down at the kitchen table, mug of coffee steaming in her hands.

“Luciel!” she shouted, gaining the man’s attention for an albeit brief amount of time. “Calm down for a second and think rationally.”

“How the hell am I supposed to think rationally about this?” Luciel snapped, taking on a colder demeanor than she was used to. Fine, she could deal with a change in attitude, but if there was one thing she learned in her twenty years of life, it was that freaking out didn’t solve the problem any quicker. 

“ _ Think _ , you idiot,” she snapped. “You’re supposed to be a damn genius! What can you use around you to figure out where Saeran went?” 

Luciel was quiet for a moment, the silence only cut by Vanderwood’s voice coming from the hallway. “The CCTV,” he finally said, rushing to grab his laptop. Soo Min relaxed as Luciel finally started putting that brain to use, sipping her coffee and watching him type away rapidly against the keys. “Looks like… three hours ago, taking a left out of the building.”

“He can’t have gone far fast,” she mentioned. “Not with a head injury like the one I gave him. You said he’d gotten a concussion from it, right? The sun is gonna be a sonuvabitch to ignore if he’s trying to get anywhere.”

“That’s true,” he muttered, seemingly not paying her much attention anymore. Soo Min shook her head but let it happen, allowing herself to be a soundboard for the hacker. “He’s never been the strongest…”

“Health problems?” she asked, and she could almost physically see Luciel’s facial expression shut off from her. He didn’t even spare her a glance as he kept working, shaking his head.

“Nothing you need to worry about. Right now we just need to find Saeran before he can get back to Mint Eye and attack again. God, I shouldn’t even be  _ saying _ that about my own brother!” Luciel leaned away from the laptop and took his glasses off, rubbing his hand down his face in frustration. “What happened to you, Saeran..?”

The urge to go over to Luciel and place a hand over his own in an attempt at comforting him was strong, so strong that Soo Min almost gave into temptation, but the buzzing of her phone snapped her out of it and she looked down to hide the pink she was certain started tinging her cheeks.  _ No _ , she thought.  _ I can’t afford to do this shit right now. _ She picked up her phone and chewed her bottom lip as she read the message Jaehee had sent her, reminding her of a meeting she had set up to start to integrate her into C&R, and Soo Min felt guilty as she sent confirmation that she’d be there. After all, if Saeran could escape a bomb-rigged apartment without killing them all, then she could limp her ass over to C&R and sit down for a few hours to take some notes, right?

“I wish I could stay and help,” she said regretfully, hoping that Luciel could tell that her regret was genuine. “but it’ll have to be after my meetings today. I’m guessing it’s safe to go outside, what with all that’s happened?”

Luciel’s eyes locked onto her with laser-focus, and if she were any less experienced with dealing with powerful and dangerous men she’d have shrunk where she sat. As it was, she’d dealt with plenty of businessmen in place of her father in the past, so when Luciel looked ready to keep her there she just met his gaze with a steadfast one of her own, jaw set in defiance. 

“There’s no guarantee you’re safe once you leave those doors,” he said stonily, a tone so far from the one she associated with him that it sent a shiver down her spine. “Stay here, Soo Min, and do your meetings remotely. I’d feel better if you were in my sight for the time being.”

“I can’t just give up my daily life because something might be dangerous,” Soo Min responded, trying to keep her voice gentle. “It’s been dangerous for me to step outside my whole life, Luciel. I know how to protect myself, if you haven’t noticed, and I’ll be with Jumin to boot. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Something flickered in his eyes that she couldn’t quite catch, but before she could try and decipher it Luciel had his back to her, his fingers flying once again. “Fine, do what you’d like. Stay away from heels until your foot is healed, though, and have fun with your  _ fiance _ .”

“Okay. I’ll see you later.” Soo Min got up and limped her way to the bedroom, ignoring Vanderwood’s curious expression as he re-entered the apartment and shutting the door behind her. She couldn’t help thinking that there was a hint of bitterness in Luciel’s voice when he said the word  _ fiance _ , but that couldn’t be right. Brushing it aside, Soo Min called out a goodbye as she left the apartment and ignored the resounding silence that responded to her in turn. 

With any luck, she mused as she found Driver Kim and climbed into the car, this wouldn’t be the new norm and Luciel would go back to normal soon. Soo Min wasn’t sure how to help him otherwise, and that hurt most of all.


	7. Chapter 7

Meetings had always exhausted her. She knew that it came with running a business, especially so when not only inheriting one but stepping into a lead position for another as well, but Soo Min was well and truly exhausted by the time she had stepped out of the conference room for a much-needed coffee break. Luckily across the hall a little table had been set up for C&R’s visitors with food and drinks, and Soo Min wasn’t beyond taking what wasn’t technically intended for her, trudging her way into the room and sitting down to let her foot rest.

She should have listened to Luciel and stayed at Rika’s to let her foot heal up, but despite her college degrees Soo Min couldn’t claim to be the smartest or self-preservent person she knew. It was hard enough to get businessmen to listen to her, especially when most of them were older men who rarely respected her position of authority because of her sex, and she’d resorted to the age-old tradition of grinning and bearing the pain to make sure she had their utmost attention at all times while she was in the spotlight. 

Didn’t mean she was going to keep practicing that method in her off time, though. 

“How’s your foot?” a voice asked from behind her, and Soo Min tilted her head back to see who it was, being met with the upside-down image of Jumin in the doorway. A smile graced her lips, and Soo Min straightened up to make some room for him at her claimed table, shifting to prop her foot on a different chair so he could sit. 

“Considering how shady the whole ordeal was, I’m managing,” she said, chewing on her bagel and watching as Jumin poured himself coffee as well. “If you don’t mind me borrowing Driver Kim later, though, I’d like to go to the hospital to get it professionally looked at.”

“Ah, right. You couldn’t exactly go to A&E last night with the hacker still in the apartment.” He sat down at the seat Soo Min had cleared for him and grabbed a muffin from the stack, lips quirking up at her amused expression as he said, “Don’t tell my nutritionist. Or Zen.”

“Zen might explode if he found out you acted like a normal human being. God forbid.” Soo Min had a full-out grin on her face, and she leaned forward to grab one for herself too, unashamed in her consumption of carb-heavy snacks. Jumin’s nutritionist would scoff if he saw, she was sure. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” A comfortable silence passed between the two as they ate their unhealthy lunch, only broken when Jumin spoke as if there hadn’t been a break in his train of thought: “I could go with you to the hospital, if you’d like.”

Soo Min felt her face heat up, and she willed herself to stop blushing with, she presumed, little success, judging by the pleased expression that adorned Jumin’s face. It was a nice change of pace, she mused, from the normally stoic expression he wore while at work… or thinking about work… or doing work from home… or anything that was related to C&R. There was no doubt in her mind that Jumin loved his father’s company, much like she herself loved her own father’s company; she wondered if he was thrilled each time C&R grew as a business like she was when someone at A.I.E. made a breakthrough in AI enhancement. She wondered if he looked just as pleased when C&R advanced as he did right now.

She wondered how long he’d been waiting for her answer, and Soo Min cleared her throat.

“I mean, I won’t  _ oppose _ it, but I know how busy you are,” she said, forcing herself to think rationally. As much as she’d love to grab the opportunity to spend more time with her future husband, she didn’t want him to fall behind because of her, and she mentioned as much. Jumin’s expression became more serious and she swore internally. 

“There’s nothing on my schedule that can’t wait for a few hours or be done from my phone,” he said, pulling out his phone and scrolling through his schedule. “Besides, you’re to be my future wife. Unlike my father and his many,  _ many _ girlfriends, I’d like to be there for you like our vows as us to be: in sickness and in health.”

Soo Min felt like a blubbering fish, with the way her mouth kept opening and closing like one out of water. Her cheeks burned again in full force, and she let out a nervous laugh as she picked at her muffin, bagel long finished at that point. For someone who hadn’t had a serious relationship in his life, or a good example for a serious relationship, Han Jumin knew how to make a girl weak at the knees.

Thank God she was sitting down.

“S-so long as you don’t push anything onto Jaehee,” she said, hating how she stuttered and taking a deep breath so she could regain her cool.  _ Focus _ , she thought.  _ Don’t let yourself fall apart because of a guy, self. What would Joon think if he saw me now? _

She pictured her twin rolling on the floor laughing, and now in addition to the blush she had to fight back a groan. That didn’t help at all. 

“Assistant Kang is my assistant,” Jumin said. “Why shouldn’t I give her some of the work?”

“Because you give her so much work that she hardly eats or sleeps, Jumin. Jaehee deserves a break more than anyone I know, I think.” Soo Min narrowed her eyes to keep him from talking. “Besides, she’s got her hands full right now with those cat projects you’ve started for Elizabeth and that coffee project you have her looking into. Give some of the load to someone else. Please.”

Jumin stared at Soo Min silently, and for a moment she thought she’d crossed a line in their relationship that she hadn’t been aware of. She didn’t doubt Jaehee could handle more work, of course, but from the chat rooms alone she could see how exhausted the woman was from everything Jumin pushed on her. She deserved a holiday and more paid time off than perhaps anyone at C&R. 

“Alright,” Jumin finally said. “I’ll find someone else to give a few projects to. If it goes wrong, however, you’re taking the blame when my father asks. Not me.”

“I can live with that,” she said, satisfied with his response. “When are you free to go?”  _ Hopefully soon _ , she thought, because no matter how much she brushed it off,  _ her foot was killing her _ . 

Jumin looked at his watch and stood up. “Give me an hour to negotiate and we can head there. How does that sound?”

“I think I can survive another hour,” she joked, and Jumin nodded before turning and heading to the conference room. Soo Min watched him go and sighed, finishing her muffin and chewing her lip as she stared at her phone--no, a particular name in her contact list. The previous night flashed back into her mind, to the bomb that almost went off, and the name seemed to stand out more prominently the longer she did nothing but look at it. When was the last time she’d talked to her brother? With their busy lives, it was hard to do more than send a text to stay in touch, but he’d walled her off since she’d accepted father’s marriage scheme.  _ This won’t end well _ , he had told her.  _ What if you hate the guy? What if you fall in love with someone who isn’t him? Then what? _

She couldn’t hate Jumin, she was realizing, and Luciel--no, she wasn’t opening that can of worms for the umpteenth time in less than 24 hours. Joon was right though, he always was, and she could have died last night without having spoken to him again. Her heart constricted, and with the small scrap of courage that remained from her attack on Saeran, she pressed call and held the phone to her ear. It rang three times, and right before she hung up the line was finally picked up.

“Hey sis.”

Soo Min smiled and looked down at her lap, ignoring the burning sensation behind her eyes as she replied, “Hey bro. Can we talk?”

 

\---

 

“This is where I get to say ‘I told you so’, right?”

Soo Min’s hospital room was almost blindingly white and smelled of bleach, and despite the looks the staff kept giving her she looked at her phone every few seconds to see if Jumin had arrived yet. Maybe telling Joon that she’d had her foot sketchily stitched up by friends after stepping on glass had been a mistake, but she hadn’t been able to help it; once she had heard her brother’s voice, everything had started pouring out that she was able to tell him, and he had literally barged into C&R and had taken her to A&E himself. The whole hacker ordeal was still a secret to Joon--she didn’t want him involved in that mess--but she was glad that he was done stonewalling her and was back to staying by her side. Jaehee had looked baffled when her brother had literally picked her up and carried her out of the building but had promised to inform Jumin of the change in plans, so that was something at least.

So long as he didn’t think she bailed on him, Soo Min was content.

“You’d say it whether it was appropriate or not,” she grumbled, setting her phone down to pluck at the hair tie on her wrist instead and ignoring the glare Joon fixed on her. “Go ahead and say it.”

“Well since you’ve given me permission,” he said cheekily, leaning his elbows on the bed and saying, “I fucking told you so, idiot.” 

“Now  _ that _ was uncalled for!” Soo Min snapped, scowling as her twin laughed and leaned away again, the blond hair he was growing out (despite their father’s wishes) getting in his face. She leaned over and brushed it out of his way, snorting at the flecks of green and blue paint that had dried onto his cheek and scratching at one spot with her nail. “You’ve got a little something there, brother.”

“Aw, what a kind big sister you are,” he drawled, swatting her hand away. “Paint is always gonna be there, Min. Kinda part of my job.”

“Ah, right. How dare I question the dress code of my artist brother.” She rolled her eyes and let her head fall back against the lumpy pillows the hospital provided, eyes closing. “I don’t think an ‘I told you so’ was entirely appropriate, anyway.”

“Oh? And why is that?” 

She opened one eye to glare at him. “You warned me against hating my future husband  _ or _ falling in love with someone else. You never mentioned the possibility that I might… develop feelings for both of them.”

“You didn’t.”

“I think I might be, yeah.” She sighed and picked up her phone again, perking up when she saw two text messages: one from Jumin, another (surprisingly) from Luciel. The latter was unexpected; he’d acted so cold to her that morning that she’d thought he was mad at her. She ignored the curious look from her twin and didn’t bother brushing him away when he leaned to take a look, knowing she was going to end up showing him anyway, so what did it matter?

> **Jumin:** Assistant Kang told me what happened. I’m on my way. 
> 
> **Jumin:** What’s your room number?

She fired off a response and moved on.

> **707:** jaehee said you went to a&e after all? 
> 
> **707:** just keep a lookout for saeran, don’t want you hurt
> 
> **707:** are u coming back to rika’s tonight?

“Who’s Saeran?” Joon asked, and Soo Min quickly shut her phone screen off.  _ Shit _ , she hadn’t realized Luciel would text her about the whole Saeran business, but she should have. The RFA app was his own creation, after all, only hackable by his own brother, and Saeran was at least temporarily down for the count. There was no other reason Luciel had to worry about someone seeing their otherwise encrypted messages. 

“No one!” she said too quickly, and of course Joon was able to catch her lie right away. She’d read somewhere once that the best lies were often concealed in some sort of truth, and Soo Min hoped that was true as she went on. “Just Luciel’s brother. He’s missing. I said I’d keep an eye out.”

Joon frowned. “What’s he look like?”

“Spitting image of his brother,” she said.  _ Minus the white hair, tattoo, and mint eyes _ , she didn’t say. “I’ll show you a picture later if you’re that curious.”

“Ouch, now you’re the one stonewalling me? Ice cold.” The joke fell flat, and both twins looked away awkwardly, waiting for the other to start the conversation that had to happen. Joon couldn’t just block her out of his life for six months without tension being there. He hadn’t been there through father’s stress as he looked for spouse after suitable spouse, and through each disappointment that had Soo Min more and more on edge. She’d needed someone to be there at her side,  _ on _ her side, and he hadn’t been there. Soo Min thought back to the shit show that was Saeran and Luciel’s relationship, and she supposed whoever said twins had a solid connection had gotten it wrong somewhere. Being a twin didn’t always mean a good relationship with one another. 

“I’m sorry,” Joon finally said, drawing her attention. “I just couldn’t sit there and watch you get yourself into something that wouldn’t make you happy, Min.”

“So you thought the best way to try and help me was to take yourself out of my life entirely?” she snapped, feeling herself grow nearly as cold as Luciel had been that morning. She didn’t want Joon to feel as hurt as she had, though, so Soo Min counted to ten and started again. “The business falls on me, Joon, and you know that. Especially since you flat out refused father when he offered it to you. I’m doing what father wants me to do, yes, but I know it’s what’s best for the company. That was my decision, and because you disagreed you bailed on me too.”

“Min--”

“ _ No _ , I’m talking now. Do you know how hard it was to get father’s employees to respect me?” she asked, feeling more and more heated. “Sure, I could build, but I still can’t program beyond simple shit. You were always the programmer. They wanted  _ you _ , Joon, and the only reason they’re willing to listen to me now is because I’m engaged to Han Jumin. He doesn’t know shit about technology, and he’ll be the first to admit it, but hey! He’s a guy!  _ Now _ I’m respectable.” Angry tears built up in her eyes, and she wiped them away quickly. “I needed you, Joon! And you weren’t there. ‘Sorry’ isn’t going to cut it this time.”

She had never understood the idea of silence being deafening until that moment, feeling more distant from her better half than she’d ever felt before. It was heartbreaking, and Soo Min couldn’t even get up to walk away until the damn doctor finally deigned himself ready to visit her hospital room and give her proper, sterilized stitches and some crutches. Instead she let the silence drag on, watching as Joon finally stood up and placed a hand on her head.

“I don’t deserve your forgiveness, Min, but I had my reasons for doing what I did. That doesn’t make what I did right, though, and I hope you’ll forgive me soon.” He paused. “I’ll go get some air, give us both some time to cool down. Alright?”

She sighed and nodded, eyes closing once again. “Alright. See you later.”

Soo Min listened as Joon left the room and spoke quietly with the nurse outside of her room, too quiet for her to hear but loud enough for her to know he was still there. She hated how long he’d been gone, had deliberately shut her out, but she also knew that they’d both get past this. Neither of them were perfect, after all, and at the end of the day they were still best friends. Her mind drifted back to Luciel and Saeran, and something akin to pity formed in the pit of her stomach as she rolled onto her side and decided to nap until either Jumin or the damn doctor finally arrived.

Hopefully, in time, Luciel and Saeran would reunite and mend their relationship too.

 

\---

Outside of the hospital, and frankly far too close to the doors of the hospital, Jung Joon leaned against a bike rack and exhaled cigarette smoke into the already polluted air. He’d become something of an environmentalist in the past six or so months, but that didn’t stop him from repeatedly trying and failing to quit his smoking habit. Across the way he saw a squirrel scurry by with what looked like either a corn kernel or a cigarette butt in its mouth, and he huffed sadly.

Things with Soo Min… didn’t exactly go well in there. At least if she decided to tear him to pieces after all, he’d be in a hospital to recover from the wounds she was bound to give him. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting; Soo Min had never been afraid to show her emotions, though she’d gotten better and reigning it in over the years. Her possibly falling for Han Jumin, who was known for his lack of emotional prowess, was a shock to say in the least.

Joon took one last drag and snuffed his cigarette out in the provided tray, pocketing his hands and walking across the street where he’d seen that squirrel. It wasn’t a good idea to wrestle anything away from the creatures, sure, but at least he could say he tried (and again, there was a hospital  _ right there _ ). He was about to corner it when a branch snapped behind him and the squirrel scuttled off, Joon letting out a string of curses and turning around to tell the stranger off.

His eyes cut him short.

He had always liked colors. It was what had started him away from the AI business his father had planned for him years ago and into the art field he loved so dearly. The way colors blended to create an endless spectrum of shades and hues amazed him, but the human eyes, despite their uniqueness, only had so many colors to go through before people started lumping it all in the hazel category. The man in front of him had uniquely bright eyes, a mint shade he hadn’t seen anywhere before outside of colored contacts, but these eyes looked genuine. Mint, with a few hints of honey flecked toward the pupils. The man’s white hair caught him next, obviously died with fading pink tips, and the tattoo on his arm was uniquely patterned and seemed to orbit a Horus eye tattoo. 

The man was art personified, and Joon was enthralled.

“Did I startle you?” the man asked, wearing a smile that seemed rather forced, if Joon was being honest. He’d had plenty of time to learn how to people-read growing up, and despite his fascination with the man’s aesthetic appearance he could usually tell when someone wanted something. 

“No, just the squirrel,” he responded. “Can I help you?”

The man shook his head. “I was just wondering what someone was doing chasing a squirrel, that’s all.”

Joon’s lips quirked up. “Trying to keep it from starting smoking habit,” he deadpanned, and the man actually  _ laughed _ . He was strange, Joon decided, though he relaxed and looked at his tattoo once again. “Why the Horus eye?”

“Hm? Oh, this!” The man tugged his sweatshirt sleeve down for Joon to get a better look, and if his eyes wandered past the tattoo to stare at the man’s bicep (surprising, for such a slender man) he wasn’t about to say anything, nor did the man seem to notice. “It’s actually modified to be a symbol for this group I’m a part of.”

“Group?”

The man beamed, and Joon couldn’t help but be taken by his enthusiasm. “Yes! Called Magenta. It’s a home to me, really.” He paused. “I could tell you more over coffee if you’d like?”

“Well aren’t you smooth,” Joon joked, grinning and falling in by the man’s side. “I’m Joon, by the way.”

“I’m… Ray,” the man said, the hesitation not going unnoticed by Joon.  _ Maybe he’s shy _ , he thought, and brushed it off without much more thought. 

“So this Magenta. What can you tell me about it?”

Ray grinned and held the door open for Joon when they arrived at the closest coffee shop. “It’s hard to describe, but honestly? It’s paradise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more jumin, and introducing joon! i absolutely adore joon tbh and couldn't keep mentioning him without writing him into the story, so hey! more jung family backstory! plus joon's pov at the end, which i'm thinking about doing again in the future as the story develops. lmk if that's something you all want!


	8. Chapter 8

She should’ve expected that Jumin would baby her once they left the hospital and got back to his penthouse. 

The doctor had told her she had to stay off of her foot for two weeks, but that wasn’t going to cut it. Soo Min couldn’t just  _ not walk _ for that long, nor could she afford it; she had meetings to attend, and the RFA party was scheduled to be held in three days. She had a good amount of confirmed attendees on her list, and was proud of the work she’d accomplished in such a short amount of time, but something still felt off about the whole party-thing. Soo Min wasn’t entirely sure what everyone’s job was besides suggesting guests to her, but who was renting out the venue? Who was choosing the foundation they’d potentially be donating their earnings to? Was V going to arrive with enough pictures for the amount of people she was managing to invite?

Soo Min was used to stress, but somehow stress for the RFA was a whole other level of stress in her mind. 

She couldn’t exactly email her guests from Jumin’s penthouse, and there was no one in the chat room at present, so that left her literally sitting there and twiddling her thumbs as Jumin ordered his personal chef to bring them food. She hated it, hated feeling useless, and on top of feeling useless she hadn’t heard from Joon since their fight. Maybe she should’ve been kinder. Maybe she should call him and apologize. Then again, maybe she should give him space despite having said she didn’t want that earlier. Soo Min had been hurt by Joon ignoring her, and had lashed out in retaliation when she’d finally been given the chance. That didn’t make it right, though. Not when she hardly let him get a word in edgewise.

“Staring at your foot won’t make it heal faster,” Jumin said kindly, and Soo Min looked up ( _ when had she started staring at her foot? _ she wondered) to find Jumin sitting across from her on the coffee table, the glass not giving way to his weight but still making her nervous nevertheless. His face was kind, an expression he didn’t show the public lest they view him as anything other than serious, but in the short time she had come to know him Soo Min had found that this was the real Jumin. He wasn’t always the most tactful—his conversations with Zen in the chat rooms proved that, especially when it came to Elizabeth—but he genuinely  _ cared _ , and every time the RFA members said a snide remark about him without the man being there to defend himself Soo Min felt her blood boil. Zen had become a close friend in the week since joining the RFA, but she’d be lying if she said they didn’t argue constantly over Jumin. 

She had a right mind to wonder if he was jealous of her relationship with Jumin, but one off-comment suggesting it had sent the actor into a tyrant until she finally hung up on him. Does Ryu Hyun is gay? Possibly a little, but suggest otherwise and face is wrath. 

Jumin was still staring at her, though, and Soo Min forced herself to give him a hopefully reassuring smile as she messed with the end of her bandage. “I can try to will it,” she said, warmth filling her at his laughter. “It’s just poor timing. I hardly want to be in a boot when the party comes around.”

“Then you shouldn’t have gone swinging at the hacker like you did,” he gently scolded. “You should’ve known you’d get hurt with all that glass around.”

“Well pardon me for not wanting to be kidnapped again,” she huffed, and the mood immediately grew somber in the room. Soo Min closed her eyes and inwardly scolded herself, waiting a few seconds before meeting Jumin’s eyes again. Instead of the incredulousness she normally expected, all she saw was understanding, and she felt her heart flutter in response. 

“You’ll be healed in a few weeks,” he said rather than pressing the issue, reaching to take her hand and keep her from ruining the bandage. “I’m sure that’s not the only thing troubling you though. I thought you’d said your brother was at the hospital with you earlier?”

Soo Min winced and avoided his eyes once again.  _ Once again, your tact astounds me _ , she thought. “We… had a fight right before you arrived. He left and obviously didn’t come back.” Soo Min dropped her face into her hands and huffed. “I’m an idiot.”

“Well I won’t dispute that,” he deadpanned, and Soo Min whacked his shoulder lightly as she laughed. Jumin’s lips quirked up into a smile. “If I’ve learned anything from my relationship with my father over the years, it’s that family won’t always do things that’ll make you happy with them. Lord knows I hate every time he gets a new girlfriend-of-the-week. They’re still your family, however, and if you have the chance you should try to make things work between the two of you. No matter the problem between you two.”

She nodded and chewed her bottom lip uncertainly, mulling over what he said. “You’re right,” she said slowly. “Mostly, at least. I know Joon and I will be alright after I get control of my emotions again, but not all families are like yours and mine. I should feel lucky that my relationship with Joon and our father is good for the most part.”

“Then what’s stopping you from apologizing?”

Soo Min gave Jumin a  _ look _ , and miraculously managed to get him to back off. She was thankful for that and went back to idly fiddling with her phone, chewing on her cheek and pulling up her message thread with Joon. Would he respond right away if she sent him a message? Would he ignore her for another six months even though, frankly, her snapping at him was entirely rational? She took a deep breath and typed out a message to him, sending it before she could change her mind and tossing her phone beside her on the couch. Jumin watched her with mild interest the entire time, and Soo Min fought from squirming under his gaze. 

“There, I reached out,” she said to fill the silence. “Now its all on him.”

“That’s all you can do,” he agreed, getting up when there was a knock at the penthouse door and ruffling her hair fondly. Soo Min snorted and waved Jumin away, brushing her hair back down into something worth being seen as he answered the door. She expected the chef to bring in the food they’d ordered, but Jumin’s irritated body language and a glimpse of bright red shocked her. 

“You’re not coming inside, Luciel,” Jumin commented from the doorway, keeping his body on between Luciel and the rest of the penthouse. “You’ve ruined any chance of that happening the previous times you  _ broke in _ to torment my cat.”

“I’d never torment Elly!” Luciel exclaimed, and as if on cue Elizabeth strolled into the living room and meowed toward the door. Soo Min could partially see Luciel’s grin in response and fought a chuckle when he meowed back, only irritating Jumin more in the process. 

“I don’t think you’re helping your case, Luciel,” she called, grabbing her crutches so she could make her way to the doorway. Luciel looked away from Elizabeth and toward Soo Min, eyes widening in shock. 

“What are you doing up?” he asked. “The first two days are the most important for healing, Soo Min. Go sit back down.”

“She won’t listen,” Jumin muttered, frowning in her direction. “I’ve tried. That still doesn’t mean you’re coming in though.”

“I have to!” Luciel snapped, his expression going from worried to angry in a second. She couldn’t say she hadn’t seen him look that way before—she could still recall how he’d looked at her coolly earlier that morning—but seeing him switch like a light into it was something to behold. “I keep trying to find the hacker but it’s too  _ quiet _ in that apartment, and I can’t concentrate unless I can see for myself that Soo Min is alright.”

Soo Min felt her expression soften, and she nudged Jumin over enough to make room for Luciel to get through. Jumin looked ready to protest but stopped himself when she fixed him with another  _ look _ , one that threatened his existence if he tried to stop her. Luciel glanced between them before making his way inside, and she stopped him with a hand on his arm, meeting his eyes and smiling gently. 

“I’m alright,” she murmured. “There’s plenty of room here for you to make yourself at home.”

“I—yeah. Okay, thanks.” Luciel swallowed hard and moved away from her side to set up in the living room, leaving Soo Min with Jumin and an open door. She felt Jumin’s eyes on her but couldn’t meet his eyes quite yet, not with her heart still pounding from the brief moment she and Luciel had shared. She felt like she was betraying Jumin, and honestly hated herself a little for it.  _ You can’t fucking flirt in front of your fiancée, asshole _ , she scolded, and was grateful when the chef appeared a moment later with the food. 

“Your dinner,” the chef said, and Soo Min finally looked at Jumin to give him a tight smile. 

“I’ll go sit down,” she said, heading toward the kitchen table and ignoring Jumin’s stare as she walked away. 

 

\---

 

Joon answered her a day later. 

Soo Min had been going stir-crazy in the penthouse, but not because she was trapped inside, which is what she’d thought would be the issue. No, the issue was that between Luciel and Jumin, Soo Min wasn’t allowed to do  _ anything _ , and no matter how much she tried to get away with doing simple things like moving across the room, one of them abandoned what he was doing and was at her side at once. It wasn’t just that, though; no, she then had to hear complaints from Luciel about how he “had to catch the hacker, Soo Min,” and that she had to “stop getting up, I’m trying to work and you’re  _ distracting me _ .” Then of course, there was Jumin, who was saying admittedly creepy shit about locking her up in a cage with Elizabeth so he could keep them both safe and away from harm. Juggling Jumin’s possessiveness and Luciel’s stoicism was tiring, and she had a hard time finding a moment where she wasn’t being watched.

At least she had the small comfort in knowing that she had a decent number of guests lined up to attend the party, since she had no idea when she’d be able to check her RFA email next.

“They’re driving me up a wall, Zen!” she complained after he’d called, laying down on her bed and looking through the cracked door. Luciel was still sitting with his back toward her, and Jumin was at a meeting with his father. Soo Min wasn’t sure she cared if Luciel heard her complain about him at this point. Maybe he’d get the damn hint. “I know you keep saying all men are beasts and whatever, but this is  _ not _ what I thought you meant.”

“Can you blame them?” Zen asked, the sound of pages flipping coming through from his end of the line. “They just want to protect you, Soo Min. Especially since the hacker was able to break into Rika’s apartment and you hurt yourself because of him.”

“Mistakes happen,” she huffed, glaring at her now-booted foot. At least she could abandon her crutches while wearing it, but it was awkward to be in. “And  _ yes _ , I can blame them. I’m not exactly a helpless child you know. They’re being suffocating.”

“But your injury--”

“Ugh.” Soo Min let her head drop onto her arms and sighed loudly. “I should’ve called Jaehee.” She ignored Zen’s shouts of protest as a beep came across the line, and her chest tightened when she saw who was calling. “Hey, I’m gonna call you back, okay?”

“Alright, alright. Tell Jaehee hi for me,” he grumbled, and Soo Min smiled a bit, not bothering to correct him and picking up Joon’s call.

“Where’d you run off to?’ she asked in lieu of a greeting, and she cringed at the tactlessness that she’d internally scolded Jumin for a day ago. “I mean… hey. Are you alright?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Joon said, voice sounding a little strained. Soo Min sat up immediately as if that would help her figure out the problem better, wrapping her free arm around her middle and glancing toward Luciel again. Something wasn’t right, but did she really want to risk Luciel yelling at her for a gut feeling?

Then again, her gut feelings were normally right. 

“What’s the matter?” she asked, treading carefully. “You sound like something is wrong.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he responded, shuffling covering his voice a little. “I’m fine, Soo Min. I’m safe.”

“If you say so,” she drawled, moving slowly toward the living room and shooting a glare at Luciel the moment he stood up from his work station. Soo Min covered her phone and said, “Unless you’re getting yourself some actual food, don’t come over here.” Luciel, of course, ignored her, and held her arm as she continued her conversation. “If you’re okay, then where did you go?”

“I went for a walk,” Joon said. “And I may have met this guy. He was gorgeous, sis. White hair with pink tips, mint eyes, and a Horus eye tattoo on his right arm.”

Her eyes widened, and she put her phone on speaker so Luciel could listen. Luciel just looked confused, but she pointed at it to try and make him listen to the conversation as she grabbed a pen and some paper. “He sounds gorgeous, Joon. Mint eyes, you said?”

Luciel’s eyes widened.  _ Bingo _ .

“Yeah. We went to a coffee shop about a block from the hospital,” Joon continued. “Great conversationalist. Very well-spoken. You know, he took me to this place, and it’s  _ beautiful _ . A paradise, even.”

Soo Min’s eyes widened, and she looked at Luciel. He was already on his laptop, phone plugged into it without her noticing and running a program. “Keep him talking,” he hissed, and Soo Min cleared her throat.

“A paradise? Is there room for one more there?”

“I’d have to ask the sa--the person in charge, but I think so.” Joon hesitated. “I’m not sure when I’ll be able to call again, sis. The reception out here is a bit sketchy at best, but the place itself is beautiful.” 

“Okay,” Soo Min whispered. “Um… just send me the address if the person in charge says I can join you, alright? And I’m sorry for yelling at you. I hope you know that.”

“I know, Soo Min,” Joon said softly. It took all her effort not to start crying. “I’m sorry for bailing on you. It won’t happen again, I promise.”

“Good. You better.” 

“I--” Faint talking came from the background on Joon’s end of the line, and his panic was evident when he spoke again. “Shit, I’ve gotta go. I’ll text you as soon as I can, okay? I love you.”

“I love you too, Joon.” The line went dead just as Jumin entered the penthouse, and Luciel let out a string of curses. “Did you track him?” she asked.

“Did Luciel track who?” Jumin asked, and Luciel brushed his hair back into nothing short of a mess in frustration.

“Yes? Mostly? I’ve got enough of the coordinates to track him down, I think. I can’t believe Saeran would  _ do _ this!” He crushed an empty can of PhD. Pepper and took a few deep breaths, leaving Soo Min to deal with Jumin.

“Can I tell him, Luciel?” she asked. “I won’t if you don’t want me to. It’s your secret to tell, not mine.”

The tension in the room could suffocate a person, Soo Min swore it could, but it didn’t feel right to say anything until Luciel gathered his thoughts. It was a long few seconds until that happened, and she sagged in relief as he nodded and started typing again. She turned back to Jumin and took his hand, leading him to the couch and sitting him down.

“Soo Min, you’re acting weird,” he said slowly, like he was talking to an easily scared cat. She huffed in feigned amusement and nodded. 

“I know, and I’m sorry,” she said. “Like I said, it was his secret to tell. I couldn’t say anything until I got Luciel’s okay.”

Jumin’s eyes darted between the two of them. “Alright, then tell me. What’s this about? Or who, I suppose?”

Soo Min cleared her throat and met Jumin’s eyes, holding them as she started explaining. “The hacker has gone too far this time. He’s managed to kidnap my brother. It’s only fair that you finally know about Saeran… and how we have to help him however we can.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay! the past few weeks have been rough, particularly this week since we had to put my dog down. thankfully writing helps, so here we go! this chapter is mostly fluff and soo min loving her boys, but the end gets the plot moving more. expect updates to be a little bit slower since my semester has started up once again, but i'm still aiming for a chapter a week if i can help it without ruining my grades lmao
> 
> also side note: sorry if formatting is a little funky. i write half of this fic on the google docs app on my phone and the other on my laptop, so em dashes will sometimes end up as en dashes instead, or vice versa depending on where i typed it. hopefully i'll get that fixed and i'll edit to make it all universal throughout the fic, but until then here we go.
> 
> hope you all enjoy!

It had been a day since Luciel had moved from his little corner of Jumin’s penthouse for anything beyond using the restroom, and Soo Min was starting to get worried. 

Granted, she was worried about Jumin too, but for someone who had found out 24 hours ago that Luciel’s brother was the slightly-murderous hacker who’d been attacking the RFA and, consequently, Jumin’s family, he was handling the situation remarkably well. Unfortunately, as the men Soo Min loved were wont to do, he threw himself into more work to help track down where Joon and Saeran were, also causing more sleepless nights for poor Jaehee. Soo Min was something of a wreck since Joon’s call, but she’d still contacted the poor assistant and apologized for the workload she’d unintentionally caused. 

Still, despite the work he was now doing, Jumin still found time to eat a small meal or two while he made phone calls. Soo Min had ordered Thai for them all in between her own phone calls, but Luciel’s food remained untouched. His headphones remained firmly over his ears throughout the evening and he’d snapped at her when she took them off to try to coax him to bed, causing an unneeded fight between him and Jumin while Soo Min tried to break them up. That night she’d tossed and turned with very little sleep and had ended up camping out on the ridiculously plush couch in the living room, sending off emails and only trying one other time to get Luciel to rest. He didn’t snap that time, thankfully, and though he didn’t sleep like she’d wanted he had opted to drink water and nibbled on some crackers she’d set aside for him, so she considered that a small win. 

Even still, Soo Min worried. 

Her contacts were frustratingly useless, and even though she’d told her father Joon was missing she’d had to remain vague to keep Saeran relatively safe, which drove her up the wall. Part of her hated Saeran; he was putting her brother in danger, and despite their fight she would literally kill to protect Joon if need be, her own fear be damned. This was Luciel’s brother, though, and she couldn’t figure out how she’d react if Saeran and Joon swapped places. She couldn’t hurt Luciel like that, but God did she want to punch Saeran in the face at the very least. 

“You’ll start bleeding if you keep biting your nails like that.”

Soo Min tote her eyes away from her phone and glanced up at Jumin, who was dressed more casually than she could remember seeing him. Granted, he was still a bit on the formal side—jeans and a light purple button down shirt—but it was a nice change. A nice distraction from the situation at hand. Soo Min chewed her lip instead and ignored that she’d bitten her nails down to nubs. 

“You’re right,” she said, scooting over on the couch and leaning against Jumin tiredly when he sat beside her. He felt momentarily stiff under her weight but relaxed before she could pull away, looking down at her with fondness in his eyes. 

“I usually am,” he said. “Any luck?”

“No. What’s the point of having money and contacts if none of them will help you with vague information?” Soo Min pouted. “No one takes a good bribe anymore.”

Jumin laughed quietly, and she swore she even heard Luciel snort. Was he not even listening t music?  _ That little shit. _ “No, but luckily for you I’ve got several loyal bodyguards who will be ready to insist with infiltration the moment Luciel turns up Joon and Saeran’s location.”

“No offense, Jumin, but I don’t think a horde of bodyguards is what you could call  _ stealthy _ .”

“Not to mention that too many people could spook Saeran and this savior person into doing anything rash,” Luciel chimed in from his corner, and Soo Min frowned. 

“Ah, he lives. Eat your food, Luciel.”

“Not hungry. I had those crackers earlier, remember?”

“That’s hardly a nutritious meal,” Jumin said dryly, and Luciel turned around to scowl at him. 

“Look, I can’t focus on finding Saeran if I’m—“

“Falling over from exhaustion, starvation, and dehydration?” Jumin finished. “You’re right. You’ll be closer to death if you don’t take care of yourself in the process, and then you won’t be able to go in and valiantly save the day like I’m sure you’d like to.” He shifted Soo Min and got up, heading toward Luciel and taking his headphone away despite Luciel’s protests. “What’s the point of saving Saeran if you’re dead, Luciel? How do you expect Saeran to get over whatever this Mint Eye is preaching or doing to him when his brother doesn’t care for his own life?”

Luciel, to say it bluntly, looked shocked. He resembled a fish gasping for air as he tried and failed to retort what Jumin said, and Soo Min couldn’t help her smirk at Jumin’s victory, however small it may be. She hid it before Luciel could see it and take it the wrong way, though, joining Jumin by Luciel’s side and kneeling down beside him. 

“He’s right,” she murmured, putting on a gentle expression as honey colored eyes met her brown ones. “Joon would be devastated if he knew I wasn’t taking care of myself while he was gone, even with him being in more danger than I am. He’s a worrywart like that. I’m not sure what’s going on at Mint Eye, but once he’s over whatever is going on there, I’m sure he’d be the same when he puts the pieces together.”

“He wouldn’t,” Luciel grumbled. “I wouldn’t let him know.”

“Luciel,” she groaned, forehead falling to rest on his shoulder. Unlike Jumin, Luciel remained tense, but not like he didn’t want the contact. More like he wasn’t used to the contact. A glance back at his face confirmed that, uncertainly clear as day, and Soo Min reaches down to take one of his hands in her own. “We’re not saying for the rest of the day. Just enough time to get food into your system and sleep. A program can run for the few hours you’re out, and if anything that’s not crucial happens I’m more than capable of handling it.”

“But you’re awful at programming,” he said, and Soo Min shook her head. 

“I know enough to be able to tell what is and isn’t important. I’m horrible compared to my building, not incompetent.” She sighed and squeezed his hand. “Please?”

Luciel looked torn as he glanced between his laptop and Soo Min, eyes flickering up when Jumin placed a hand on his shoulder as well. His sigh sounded promising, and she fought a full-out grin when he brought up a program to run while he was away. 

“Four hours,” he said. “That’s when it stops, so that’s when I get back to work.”

That wasn’t nearly as long as she’d hoped, and she met Jumin’s eyes uncertainly. “Can we convince you on five?”

Luciel’s eyes narrowed. “Four. The sooner we find Saeran and Joon, the better.” He stood up and winced, stretching to crack his back. Soo Min frowned in sympathy and took his hand again, taking Jumin’s with the other and leading them both toward the couch to sit them down. Both men looked awkward next to one another, and Soo Min fought back a smile as she turned toward the kitchen to reheat leftovers from yesterday’s Thai. Though Jumin was still more willing to dig into his helping (even if he did grumble a bit about the nutritional value of takeout compared to what his chef made), Luciel eventually caved and practically inhaled his helping. That was far more of a victory than the small one she’d felt over the crackers, and Soo Min settled herself between the men to eat, leaning once again against Jumin’s side and sitting content with the silence. It wasn’t until Luciel had settled his head on her lap that she’d realized Jumin had stopped eating, simply staring as her hand automatically went to Luciel’s hair to gently stroke it while he slept. 

“What?” Soo Min asked quietly, watching his eyes dart between the two. 

“...you love him, don’t you?” he asked. Soo Min’s Heart stuttered, and she glanced back at the sleeping hacker on her leg. 

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I… I think I do, yeah.”

“Then why haven’t you broken off our engagement?” He waited until he had her attention again to continue. “Don’t force yourself to stay with me if you’d rather be with someone else.”

She  _ really _ didn’t want to have this conversation right now. “That’s the thing,” she said slowly, figuring out her words as she went. “I think I love you too, Jumin. Very much so.”

Jumin’s expression would have been priceless if the moment hadn’t been so tense. “What?”

“Yeah. I’m still figuring it out, but I swear the last thing I want to do is hurt either of you.” Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, and Soo Min blinked rapidly to keep them at bay. “I don’t understand it either. I want to be with you both, so much, but that’s not fair toward either of you. Neither of you want a relationship like that.” She paused. “Right?”

“I don’t know,” he mused, seeming as much at a loss as Soo Min felt. “I never thought about it. About any of this, really. Not until you.”

Her heart caught in her throat. “Me?”

“I’ve never been fond of women,” he explained. “My father has had two wives, and could have had a third if things with Choi Glam had worked out. Even while married he’s had an array of girlfriends cycle through his life and, consequently, mine. Of course, most of those women were gold diggers, so that put a bit of an image in my head when I became old enough to date. I’m sorry to say I’d briefly thought you were one as well, until I learned who your father was.” 

Jumin had the decency to look embarrassed by the fact, at least, and Soo Min chuckled humorlessly. “And now? I’m sure being a woman in love with two men doesn’t really paint me in a good light.”

“That’s the intriguing thing,” he said, catching her attention and pulling it from her self-deprecation. “Somehow, it doesn’t. Perhaps because I know Luciel--if I were to have a romantic rival, I should be glad it’s him rather than Hyun.” That had her laughing, and Jumin smirked while she had to try and convince Luciel not to wake up as a result. “You are still one of the kindest and most intelligent people I know, Soo Min. I could never think less of you, no matter what you decide in the end.”

The threat of tears came back tenfold, and Soo Min internally cursed as a few slipped out before she could fight them back. Jumin reached out and gently wiped them away, She hoped she wasn’t blushing too harshly.

“I’d be lucky to have you for a husband,” she murmured, leaning up to kiss his cheek. “I’m sorry my heart hasn’t caught the memo.”

“We’d both be lucky to have you as a wife,” he responded, fingertips lightly touching where her lips had been. It was adorable, and her heart felt like it was in her throat. Jumin cleared his throat and glanced at the sleeping Luciel in her lap, an expression she couldn’t quite interpret on his face for a moment before he hid it. “Let’s discuss this between the three of us after Saeran and Joon have been recovered. You hardly got any sleep--take the time while it’s yours to have and sleep.”

Soo Min couldn’t argue with that unfortunately, and she settled back against Jumin’s arm willingly.  _ He’s a great pillow _ , her brain decided to notice, and she ignored it in favor of focusing on settling so both Jumin and Luciel would be comfortable for however long she’d sleep. 

“Wake me if the program makes a funny noise.”

“I will. Sleep well, Soo Min.”

“Good night, Jumin,” she murmured, the last thing registering before she fell asleep being Jumin’s arm wrapping securely-- _ warmly _ \--around her shoulders.

  
  


\---

 

“I wasn’t fully asleep you know. I heard you two talking.”

“Oh, so we could have had this discussion now instead of waiting? Your timing is impeccable, Luciel.”

“No, it just seemed important for you two. I didn’t want to intrude.”

“I see. I assume you have thoughts on it all?”

“She loves us both. I’ve never been in a relationship before, Jumin. I don’t know how to handle a bombshell like that.”

“Then that would make two of us. Part of me feels that she’ll end up heartbroken no matter which direction she goes in. I don’t want to cause her pain.”

“Funny. I feel like all I’ve caused her  _ is _ pain. She’d be better off with you.”

“Don’t you start. I’ve been thinking while you two slept.”

“Oh?”

“The best choice might be for her to not have to make a choice.”

“What, like share her? Jumin, you’d really be okay with something like that?”

“I think I should be offended that you wouldn’t think otherwise.”

“Maybe. You can be a bit possessive. Then again, I guess I can be too, but…” 

“But you’d be glad to make an exception if it meant her happiness?”

“Yeah. Exactly that.”

“Like I said before, it’s much better than the alternative:  _ Zen _ .”

“Ha! And at least I love Elly as much as you do.”

“It’s Elizabeth the 3rd. I’m already starting to have regrets even suggesting this. My poor cat.”

“I don’t care what you say. Elly  _ loves _ me.”

“Hmph. Are you sure you won’t get any more sleep?”

“Nah, I’m better already. She might be happier that I’ve moved my work to the couch, right?”

“Or she might mother you more now that you’re off the floor.”

“Please tell me you’ll stop her if she does.”

“If it sacrifices your health? I’ll just join her.”

“ _ Nooo _ ! Fine, I’ll behave. For now, keep setting your bodyguards up. I’m close to the location, I can feel it.”

“Alright. Has V contacted you yet?”

“...no. What about you?”

“Nothing. I’ll try him again later.”

“Right. Back to work.”

 

\---

 

> **V HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM**
> 
> **V:** No one is here
> 
> **V** : I’ll make this brief then, so Luciel
> 
> **V:** I have a personal favor to ask. It’s a bit embarrassing, but
> 
> **V:** All the information in the apartment is classified.
> 
> **V** : I’m just saying this as a caution
> 
> **V:** but the drawer in Rika’s bedroom holds some personal letters, so please don’t touch them
> 
> **V:** I don’t want to rehash things that are related to Rika, so please understand
> 
> **V:** Oh, my connection is going out
> 
> **V:** I should
> 
> **V HAS LEFT THE CHATROOM**
> 
>  

\---

 

Soo Min woke to a shout and the setting sun shining in her eyes. She bolted up from where she lay when she realized the shout wasn’t part of her dream, staring worriedly at a manically grinning Luciel. There was still distress peeking out behind his excitement, and her phone was filled with notifications, but right now she had one question:

“The hell are you shouting for?”

Luciel grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a quick hug. “I found them. I found the location!”

“What?” She was fully awake at that, shifting so she could stare at Luciel’s computer screen. The satellite image pulled up on it showed an impressively large building in the middle of nowhere, pixelated images of what she thought were people mingling about the outside of it. “Holy shit.”

“Right? Bit of other news though: something fishy is going on with V.” Luciel’s distress was more prominent as he said that, and Soo Min took his hand in concern. “First time he’s contacted anyone in days, and all he said was to avoid looking at letters in Rika’s apartment. Something just doesn’t seem right.”

“You think it’s more than letters.”

“Has to be. Why would he go into the chatroom with all this going on around him just to say that?” He glanced over her shoulder, and she followed his line of sight to see Jumin waiting by the door. 

“I assumed you were going to want to investigate. Driver Kim is waiting for us downstairs--on the condition that I go with you.”

Soo Min nodded and glanced at Luciel, the two standing up at the same time and heading out after Jumin. “Never a dull day with the RFA, huh?” she asked.

“It’s not normally this exciting, sorry to say,” Jumin said, and Luciel shrugged.

“Not with that attitude.” 

The chatter continued on the way down to the ground floor, but Soo Min’s mind was elsewhere. The mystery within the RFA kept getting deeper and deeper, and she wondered how many more secrets they’d uncover before life could get back to normal. She didn’t regret joining the RFA, but it still made her nervous. How many of them would get hurt before the mystery was solved? She didn’t want to think about it. Instead she thought of Joon, and her determination once again steeled.

_ Don’t worry brother _ , she vowed to herself.  _ We’re coming for you. I promise. _


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so much for an update a week! college has been kicking my ass, so i'll try to keep to at least an update a month until it the semester is over. there are only a few chapters left that i have planned in my mind, so now we're going from off the grid with a vague plan to COMPLETELY off the grid and winging it. i swear i'm a Good Writer(tm). anyway, this chapter is slightly shorter than the previous few, but i hope you all enjoy it anyway--and as always, kudos and comments are appreciated!

Soo Min hated being suspicious of V.

Granted, she had no prior interaction with the man besides his relationship with both Luciel and Jumin (and their brief conversation in the RFA chat room she supposed), but V being the leader of the RFA had automatically instilled a sense of trust in her that she didn’t want broken. Perhaps she could partially blame her initial suspicion of V on Yoosung, because lord knew that boy went after V with every fiber of his being when the opportunity arose, but his avoidance of both Luciel and Jumin was suspect as well. They were supposed to be his closest friends, or at least that was Soo Min’s understanding, but the more he ignored them, the more she figured he had something to hide. That Yoosung was actually onto something.

The messages he’d left in the chat room while everyone was away didn’t help to dissuade her suspicions. Judging by the silence that enveloped the limoscene as they drove to Rika’s apartment, the two men agreed with her without her having to even voice her concerns.

What, she wondered, was V thinking when he sent those messages for everyone to see? He had to have known that typing something like that for the RFA to read would paint him in a bad light. Soo Min closed her eyes and exhaled quietly, resting her head against the cool glass as she tried to calm her mind down. She held back a flinch when a warm hand was placed on her shoulder, and Soo Min turned her head enough so that she could still be against the window and glance at the hand’s owner at the same time. She opened one eye, and smiled tiredly at Jumin.

“Are you alright?” he asked, and she snorted humorlessly.

“I should be asking you that. Who knows what could be in this drawer of V’s.”

“V is his own person. Whether I approve of whatever he has in that drawer will not change what’s happening with Mint Eye. You, however, look five seconds from passing out on our short drive to Rika’s apartment.” 

Soo Min glanced at Luciel, as if he’d back her up on her admittedly unhealthy state of mind (because really, the hacker had no room to talk about being healthy), but to her surprise Luciel was watching her with a concerned eye as well. She frowned and huffed, blonde bangs flying away from her eyes. “Look, I’m fine. Neither of you need to worry about me.”

“So you’re the only one allowed to worry?” Luciel asked, hand resting on her knee. Soo Min tensed slightly and glanced between Jumin and Luciel; neither looked bothered (much) by the other’s touch on her. It was… confusing, to say in the least, but she filed that away to figure out later on, when they  _ weren’t _ worrying about corruption and saving lives. 

“You’re never particularly thrilled when anyone worries about you, Choi Luciel,” she said dryly, feeling accomplished as his cheeks turned red. Jumin didn’t even bother hiding his amused expression, and Luciel glared at them both.

“Yeah, well, I’m working on it. Sort of. As well as I can considering who I am as a person.” He sighed and rubbed at his eyes, fingers smudging his glasses a little. Soo Min frowned and took them to clean them off, and Luciel gave her a grateful glance before continuing. “I know what you’re going through, Soo Min, though I suppose it’s worse since my brother kidnapped yours.” He frowned. “Point is, you’re allowed to be upset in front of me. Us, I mean. Jumin’s not that heartless.”

“Your confidence in me is astounding,” Jumin deadpanned, squeezing her shoulder as she giggled. Even Luciel laughed a bit, which was a victory in itself. “She’ll handle herself as she sees best fit, Luciel. I’m sure she already knew the option to break down was there.”

“Whether I like the option or not,” Soo Min muttered, covering both of their hands with hers and squeezing. “I appreciate it, though. Thank you Luciel.” She paused. “I just want him safe, that’s all. There was a reason he avoided joining the family business, and it was shit like this. We were kidnapped enough as kids, you know? Even with the protection and anonymity our father was able to provide, that didn’t stop us from being completely out of the public eye. It fucking scarred him. Not everyone realizes how traumatizing it can be growing up with that kind of spotlight on you.” 

“If anyone realizes what that’s like, it’s us,” Luciel said, offering a half smile. There was a pain behind it that Soo Min hated seeing, but she said nothing as he continued. “Jumin was kidnapped too, and I’m pretty sure that affected him more than Mr. Robot here let’s on.” Jumin, for his part, didn’t say anything to refute the statement. “Saeran and I lived hidden from everyone until Rika and V came and helped us.” His expression fell. “Or said they would, at least.  _ Anyway _ , the point is that we’re allowed to worry about you. We know what you’re going through better than anyone else in the RFA, so you don’t have to hide from us. Okay?”

Soo Min’s eyes teared up a bit, and she threw her arms around both of them as the limo came to a stop. She felt Luciel grin against her shoulder and felt Jumin stiffen in her hold, but before she could pull away and apologize he relaxed and hugged her back. A warm feeling spread through her and settled in her belly, and she tightened the hug a moment longer before finally pulling back. It was curious, though, when she saw that Luciel had been hugging Jumin as well and she assumed that the man returned it. She hadn’t thought either of them were affectionate with one another beside Luciel’s continued torment of Elizabeth the 3rd, so the development… wasn’t concerning, per se, but succeeded in confusing her immensely. 

Later. She’d think about it later.

She did indulge herself, however, pressing a kiss to both of their cheeks in thanks before getting out of the car and heading up to Rika’s apartment. If she’d waited a second longer, she would have seen the blush that dusted both men’s cheeks, perhaps even a knowing glance exchanged between the two. She didn’t, though, too focused on opening the apartment door and heading toward the computer desk that she’d left alone until now. The door closed behind her as Luciel and Jumin entered, and she looked over her shoulder to see Jumin observing the apartment curiously.

“I’ve never been here,” he explained without her having to ask, and Soo Min raised her eyebrows in surprise. 

“Wait, really?”

“It was a secret location for a reason, Soo Min.”

She huffed. “Yeah, I know that. I just meant that I thought you’d have seen it as well, since you two were good friends.”  _ Or that’s what you say, at least, _ she didn’t say, conveying the question through her eyes instead of asking it outloud. He met her stare evenly and shook his head, running a finger across the television stand and frowning at the dust that came off of it. 

“Everyone is entitled to their secrets, Soo Min, so long as they don’t cause harm to anyone else. Up until now, the location of her apartment was one of those secrets. When’s the last time this place was dusted?”

“I haven’t exactly been here to clean,” she pointed out, watching as Luciel opened his laptop and started typing rapidly. “And like you said, it’s a secret location. I doubt Vanderwood would have cleaned if I asked him to.”

“If you bug her long enough, she’ll clean no matter the mess,” Luciel lilted, glancing up over his glasses with a grin. Soo Min chuckled and sat at his side.

“Shutting the cameras down?”

“Yep,” he confirmed. “I’ll be blocking out V’s access to the CCTV cameras as well, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

“And if it really is just letters that V is paranoid about?”

He paused his typing and shook his head. “He wouldn’t have mentioned anything in the chat unless it was something important. Hell, I probably wouldn’t have thought to check the drawers if he hadn’t said anything.”

Her heart sank a bit at the logic behind what Luciel said, but he had a point. Soo Min just nodded and sighed, not moving until he got up and headed toward the drawers. The three of them crowded around the drawer, Soo Min taking Jumin’s hand and giving it a squeeze as she asked, “Ready? We might not like what we find.”

“What else is new?” Luciel asked with a strained smile. Jumin sighed.

“Just open it,” he said, and Luciel gave it a tug. 

The next few minutes consisted of the three pouring over the stacks of pages that had been locked up, revealing blueprints and posters with one common phrase on each of them: for eternal paradise. It sent a chill through her body, and Soo Min frowned as Mint Eye showed up on each page in either symbol or name in each page she looked through as well. She figured it was safe to assume that the organization was named Mint Eye, and she bit the inside of her cheek.

Joon had said Saeran had mint eyes. 

“This started before Rika left this world,” Jumin murmured to her, pulling her from her thoughts and shoving a planner into her hands. She thumbed through the contents and looked over everything that Rika had written down, feeling a bit odd looking through the contents of a dead woman. Then again, she’d lived in said dead woman’s apartment for more or less a week and used her appliances without much issue. A planner was personal though--a glimpse into her life before she’d ended her life. It was haunting. 

The RFA was clearly marked each week in the planner, either by itself or in parenthesis next to some names that were familiar from her time as the coordinator. Clearly, Rika had scheduled in-person meetings rather than just conversing via email, but she also had much more time to coordinate than Soo Min had. Appointments were highlighted and crossed out, dates with V were enclosed in little pink cloud doodles, and disturbingly enough she had some meetings with the Church of Satan written here and there as well. It wasn’t long after  _ those _ particular meetings stopped that the initials M.E. started popping up, increasing in frequency the later she got into the planner. A quick internet search brought up a few names being the names of construction companies, and soon M.E. overwhelmed the number of RFA appointments listed in the planner. It was, quite frankly, disturbing, and Soo Min glanced at Jumin uncertainly.

“Did she grow distant around this time?” she asked, pointing at a week that had no fewer than ten M.E. appointments listed. Jumin looked over the week and nodded.

“Yes, toward the end she seemed more distanced from the rest of us--even from Yoosung. I wasn’t aware she was so busy with this M.E. that she’d put us on the backburner.”

“Her loss,” she said, shaking her head. “I think we have enough evidence to determine that M.E. stands for Mint Eye, and judging by the amount of times that appears she must have had something to do with its founding. Luciel,” she said suddenly, catching the hacker’s attention. “Do you have satellite images of the building?”

“Yeah,” he responded, turning one of his laptops over to show them. “It matches the blueprints we pulled out of there. Probably early designs.”

“Is there an image of the front of the building?”

“...why?”

“Just a hunch.” Soo Min held up one of the many papers they were going through--this one a poster calling for the public to become believers--and pointed at the symbol on it. “Look for this image anywhere. If it’s on the building for whatever reason, I think that’s evidence enough that Rika was involved in this… this  _ cult _ .”

Jumin winced at the implication but didn’t try to correct her, the two of them watching Luciel go through the images again and proceed to curse quietly. “You found it,” he finally said, voice neutral. The concern Soo Min had felt for him in the limo returned at full force, and Luciel rubbed at his eyes.

“Yeah, I did. Damn, Yoosung isn’t going to take this well.” 

“We can worry about telling the others about Rika’s involvement after we get the answers we’re looking for,” Soo Min said, standing up from her seat and looking between the two men.  _ Her men _ , her mind subtly called them, and she quickly shut it down before it could wander any further. “For now, our goal is to find Joon and Saeran and get them both out of there.”

“Obviously,” Jumin drawled. Soo Min ignored him. 

“You’re the secret agent here, Luciel, or so you’ve said. Can you get us information on the place while we’re there without tripping alarms?”

Luciel almost looked offended. “That’s beginners work, Soo Min. You wound me.” 

She snorted and placed her hands on her hips. “I’m covering our bases. How long will it take us to get to the Mint Eye building?”

Luciel glanced at his screen again. “A few hours at least.”

“We can work with that. Should we bring anyone, like Vanderwood or bodyguards?”

“Possibly not ideal,” Jumin commented. “The larger the group, the harder it will be to sneak in and do what we need. I can have Assistant Kang have forces on standby in case the situation escalates.”

“I could convince Vanderwood to be nearby as well,” Luciel added. Soo Min nodded and found a blank piece of paper, writing a list quickly of what they’ll be doing her her own peace of mind. Nothing could go wrong. Not with lives at stake. 

“I think we should spend the rest of today combing through the apartment,” she said when she was done writing. “Rika was involved, so even if there were changes to the building since its construction we’ll at least have a basis to go off of. I’m not sure about the security though. I can’t get into that from here.”

“My brother is at my skill level,” Luciel said with a frown. “He’ll know if I try to remotely hack into his system from here again. I don’t want to risk anything changing from what we already know before tomorrow.”

“So we’re flying blind,” Jumin said, looking like he’d kill for a glass of wine. Soo Min couldn’t blame him. “Wonderful.”

“Not entirely blind!” Luciel said. “I still have the basics from the battle we had before everything went to shit.”

Soo Min snorted. “Like things weren’t already going to shit before I got to the RFA.”

“That--” Luciel paused, his expression going from argumentative to acceptance. “--is fair. Okay, I’ll give you that one.”

Soo Min chuckled and went to the kitchen, the state of it still in disarray since the last time she’d been there. Had it really only been a few days since Saeran had tried to take her to this so-called paradise? Since he’d been tied up in her ( _ Rika’s _ ) kitchen? The last however many days felt like months, but like everything else in life Soo Min shoved it aside and started to work on making a meal for the other two while they worked. Breakfast seemed like forever ago, and it hadn’t been very big at all. They all deserved a decent meal. A  _ healthy _ meal, honestly, especially since Luciel seemed to live solely on Honey Buddah Chips and PhD. Pepper. 

She found the ingredients, surprisingly unspoiled, for a simple stir fry around the kitchen and, after listening to make sure they didn’t need her, started on the meal. It was soothing, which she supposed could be considered surprising for someone who grew up with cooks making her meals every day, but something about following instructions lent her a stability that she held on to. Much like computer programming. Sure, she could mess up, but for the most part it was relatively simple and standard once the basics were learned. That, and it took care of those she cared for no matter how hard of a time they were going through. The stability was important--and who didn’t like a home cooked meal?

With that clear thought in mind, Soo Min began to chop, humming quietly and forgetting about Mint Eye for a few hours. Lord knew she needed it.


	11. Chapter 11

> **SOO MIN HAS ENTERED THE CHAT ROOM.**
> 
> **Soo Min sent a photo.**
> 
> **ZEN HAS ENTERED THE CHAT ROOM.**
> 
> **YOOSUNG HAS ENTERED THE CHAT ROOM.**
> 
> **ZEN:** ???
> 
> **ZEN:** what’s this princess?
> 
> **Yoosung:** oh hey i know that! why do you have rika’s planner?
> 
> **Soo Min:** so we went through the drawers of the apartment…
> 
> **ZEN sent a shocked emoji.**
> 
> **ZEN:** wait didn’t v ask you not to?
> 
> **Soo Min:** i’m getting there gorgeous zen don’t you worry ~
> 
> **Soo Min:** is jaehee here? she should be here too 
> 
> **JAEHEE KANG HAS ENTERED THE CHAT ROOM.**
> 
> **Yoosung:** lmao speak of the devil
> 
> **Jaehee Kang:** I don’t appreciate that but yes I am here
> 
> **Jaehee Kang:** Mr. Han informed me earlier of what you found, but I hadn’t expected to see the documents for myself. 
> 
> **Jaehee Kang:** Is this all that you found?
> 
> **Soo Min:** just about. jumin is looking through a few more just in case and luciel is hacking like a GOD
> 
> **Soo Min sent a heart eye emoji.**
> 
> **ZEN:** you know flirting in here won’t do you good if he’s not here
> 
> **Soo Min:** don’t tell me how to live my life
> 
> **Soo Min:** ANYWAY he grabbed an image of the mint eye building and it matches the symbols we found on rika’s docs so
> 
> **Soo Min:** she might have ~possibly~ been involved in a cult
> 
> **Soo Min:** though i’m leaning toward definitely
> 
> **Jaehee Kang:** Oh my
> 
> **Jaehee Kang:** So that’s why Mr. Han called for the forces.
> 
> **Yoosung:** wait wait wait
> 
> **Yoosung:** what proof do you have that rika would be involved in… this?
> 
> **ZEN:** Yoosung…
> 
> **Yoosung:** NO Zen you don’t get to do that. don’t say anything. soo min is that all the proof you have? maybe she was just hanging onto it for someone you don’t know
> 
> **Soo Min:** yoosung there’s countless days listed in rika’s personal planner with the initials M.E.
> 
> **Yoosung:** she could mean that as ‘me’ days right? where she doesn’t deal with anyone else
> 
> **Jaehee Kang:** As much as I’d like to think so, Yoosung, look at the photos Soo Min sent to the chat. They’re… damning, in that aspect. It’s not exactly saying anything about her character, mind, but there’s definitely something going on here.
> 
> **Yoosung:** you’d just turn on rika that easily jaehee? Seriously??
> 
> **Jaehee Kang:** I never said that
> 
> **ZEN:** don’t put words into her mouth yoosung. let’s just calm down okay?
> 
> **Soo Min:** i know you’re hurting yoosung but i figured you should know the truth
> 
> **Soo Min:** considering how close you were to her
> 
> **Yoosung:** you don’t know me or rika at all, don’t lie
> 
> **YOOSUNG HAS LEFT THE CHAT ROOM.**
> 
> **Soo Min:** fuck
> 
> **Jaehee Kang:** He’s just upset, Soo Min. He’ll come around soon enough.
> 
> **Soo Min:** i hope you’re right
> 
> **Soo Min:** anyway i wanted to keep you all in the loop. we’re heading to mint eye soon to take a look and get my brother back
> 
> **ZEN sent a confused emoji.**
> 
> **ZEN:** brother???
> 
> **Soo Min:** oh wait yeah i have a twin brother and mint eye kidnapped him while i was in the hospital so now we’re going to mint eye to kick ass and bring joon home
> 
> **Soo Min:** luciel and i are gonna go in, jumin’s gonna stay outside on standby in case things go to shit (which they probably will bc that’s our luck right lol)
> 
> **ZEN:** i don’t like this. is there anything i can do?
> 
> **Soo Min:** just be there for yoosung and do whatever jaehee needs you to do
> 
> **Jaehee Kang sent a shocked emoji.**
> 
> **Jaehee Kang:** I get to order Zen around?
> 
> **ZEN:** i am at your disposal miss kang
> 
> **Jaehee Kang:** I… need to cool off. Keep us updated, Soo Min. Now please excuse me.
> 
> **JAEHEE KANG HAS LEFT THE CHAT ROOM.**
> 
> **ZEN:** you all stay safe okay soo min? i won’t be there to protect you and those two can be a bit self centered
> 
> **Soo Min:** lmao that’s funny coming from you, but i’ll stay safe. i promise  <3
> 
> **ZEN:** good! i’ll head to yoosung’s and make sure he doesn’t hole up too much
> 
> **ZEN:** stay in contact and good luck with mint eye!
> 
> **ZEN HAS LEFT THE CHAT ROOM.**
> 
> **Soo Min:** god i hope everything goes to plan
> 
> **SOO MIN HAS LEFT THE CHAT ROOM.**

 

\---

 

The drive to Mint Eye was a long one, and though rationally Soo Min had known it would take longer to get there than it appeared on the map she still became antsy about an hour into the ride. The tension between the three of them could cut like a knife, its thickness a bit suffocating, and for the third time into hour two she let out a long, impatient sigh. She saw Luciel’s fingers twitch against the steering wheel and winced, chewing the side of her cheek to keep another sigh in. No doubt it was grating on his nerves, though Jumin was oddly composed for someone who had found out one of his best friends was a cultist. His fingers were flying across his phone screen, eyes never tearing from it, and Soo Min glanced at her own screen in concern.

No message from Zen or Yoosung yet. She had privately asked Zen to let her know when Yoosung had calmed down from the revelation, but she hated the idea of him hating her over the situation. Still, she didn’t regret letting the rest of the RFA in on what they found. The RFA had been built on secrets, and as its new party coordinator Soo Min wanted to change that for the better.

She tapped her boot against the leather seat of Luciel’s car and opened up her messages again.

> **Soo Min:** any luck calming him down?

The boot was annoying. It was bulky and uncomfortable, and it threw her balance off every time she moved around as normal. The doctors had said to keep weight off of her foot while her stitches healed, but Soo Min wasn’t going to let Luciel and Jumin hijack Mint Eye without her there to back them up.  _ That _ had been a fight for the ages if she’d ever seen one, and it was probably the first time Soo Min had had the pleasure (or displeasure, as it was) of seeing both of the men team up together and against her. The boot had been their compromise since crutches wouldn’t do them any good in a high-risk situation, but that didn’t mean Soo Min had to like it.

If the stitches popped, they were going to kill her. Hell, Joon would join up once they got him out of the damn cult.

> **ZEN:** he goes between rage playing LOLOL and sulking in his bed while i look after him
> 
> **ZEN:** i’ll text you once he’s out of his funk. you focus on being safe
> 
> **Soo Min:** i will. keep me updated and take care  <3

Well. There was that. Soo Min huffed and brushed her hair out of her face, and she saw Luciel nearly convulse at the sound. Her eyes widened in alarm, and she straightened in her seat. “Luciel?”

“Is there a reason,” he said slowly. “you keep sighing? I swear it’s every few minutes and it’s getting on my nerves.”

“Well excuse me for breathing,” she snapped, pulling her legs onto the seat and scowling as the boot kept trying to slide down the leather. She wrapped her arms around her knees and glared at Luciel through the rearview mirror. 

“That’s not breathing.  _ Breathing _ is the soft exhalation of air from your lungs, and barely noticeable unless you’re out of shape and just went for a run. What you’re doing is sighing enough to fill a hot air balloon.” 

“You are so lucky you’re driving right now, Luciel,” she said sternly. “Otherwise I’d reach over there and kick you in the head.”

“What, with your boot?” Luciel snorted and tightened his grip on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “You’ll be better help staying with the car, Soo Min. I’ll get Saeran and Joon and get out before anyone knows what happened. You’ll just slow me down.”

Soo Min saw red, but before she could rip him a new one Jumin put his phone down and fixed them both with a glare. “ _ Enough _ , both of you. All this bickering won’t change the plan we have laid out. I know you both have siblings on the line, but if you two insist on fighting a few hours before we extract them both things are sure to go downhill.”

“Newsflash, Jumin! Nothing ever goes as planned when you’re a Choi. It’s in our fucking blood to somehow mess things up with our presence alone, and we’re about to have two Chois in the vicinity soon.” Luciel was quiet for a moment and pulled over to the side of the road, parking the car and turning to them both. “Look, I haven’t seen my brother in years, and last I checked he hates me. You’ll forgive me for being on edge at the moment.”

Soo Min scooted forward on her seat until she was just barely on it, feet back on the floor and hand resting on Luciel’s shoulder. The redhead’s eyes flickered closed, some tension seeming to leave his body, and she gave Jumin a grateful look. At least one of them had a level head at the moment. “You know starting a fight won’t help relieve that right? Especially with how fast you were driving.”

Luciel’s lips twitched up. “It’s easier to deal with than anything else.”

“I get it. Believe me, I do, and I shouldn’t have fallen for your bait so easily. I’m sorry for yelling at you.” She brushed his hair out of his face, and his eyes met hers. “We have a plan, Luciel. Things might not stick to plan exactly, but we have one, and that’s far more than we had yesterday morning. Just trust Jumin and I to do our parts and we’ll be okay.”

Luciel looked between the two of them, shoulders sagging a little when Jumin nodded in agreement and gave him a small, slightly tight smile. “If it deviates you’ll radio me just like we said, and I’ll get one of our contingency plans up and running. I won’t be far from the scene and I’ll have a force ready should the need arise.”

“And Vanderwood already said he’d scout the outside of the building a few hours ago before we get there,” Soo Min added. “If there’s anything on the outside we should know about, he’ll tell us when we get to the meeting place.”

“So you have nothing to worry about,” Jumin said, as if that finalized things. Luciel didn’t look entirely convinced, but he also didn’t look ready to murder either of them, so she counted that as a win. He just nodded and buckled himself back up, waiting for Soo Min to do the same and getting back on the road as soon as he heard the click of her buckle. 

He had valid reasons to worry, she mused as she watched the trees fly by. Saeran had absolutely loathed his brother when they last saw each other, and a few days wasn’t about to change that behavior between the twins. For a brief moment Soo Min was scared that Joon would react similarly once she saw him again, but she quickly shoved that thought out of her head. Saeran had been under Mint Eye’s influence presumably for years. There was no way he’d be as devoted as he was if he hadn’t been. For Joon it had only been a few days--the most he’d need was a little bit of medical attention. Still, the fear festered in the pit of her stomach, and for the rest of the ride Soo Min kept imagining her twin, her best friend, staring at her with bright mint eyes and a knife to her throat.

 

\---

 

Vanderwood was already there when they arrived like Soo Min had predicted, leaning against his ridiculously expensive car and tapping his foot impatiently. Luciel went over to his coworker immediately to discuss whatever he might have found, and Jumin helped her out of Luciel’s car with all the grace of a gentleman. She smiled to show her gratitude and followed him over to the two agents, leaning slightly into his side to keep her balance in the dirt and gravel. 

“... there was nothing of great importance that I found,” Vanderwood was saying to Luciel, his glance the only acknowledgement he gave the two as he talked. “For a place with a hacker supposedly better than you, the security is oddly mundane. My guess is that the more advanced security is going to be inside the building itself. I did a little sneaking inside--”

“I told you not to do that,” Luciel hissed, eyes narrowing. Vanderwood ignored him.

“--just through the windows, I didn’t go inside itself. Calm yourself. Anyway, I did some  _ peeking _ inside and the first level was just as mundane as the outside. Hell, the only unique thing about this place so far has been the flower garden in the back. It’s well-cared for, so obviously people are still living here, though I didn’t see anyone during my searches.”

“No computer room or anything like that?” Luciel asked, and Soo Min frowned.

“Saeran was incredibly good with his hacking. They probably have a main server room somewhere on the upper floor, so that’s where the security likely is,” she said. Luciel nodded in agreement and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Like I was saying earlier, nothing is ever easy.” He muttered one through ten under his breath and looked back up. “Okay, that throws our plan off slightly, but not by much. Jumin, when is your force getting here?”

“Give them twenty minutes and they should be ready,” he replied easily, pulling out his phone and typing quickly--likely to tell the force to hurry up, she figured. Luciel shook his head and went to his car, pulling his laptop bag out and slinging it over his shoulder. He met Soo Min’s eyes and held his hand out.

“We’ll start right now, make sure any silent alarms are disengaged before we head inside. Jumin, keep us posted on the force, and Vanderwood make sure no one kills Jumin. Ready, Soo Min?”

Soo Min nodded, mouth tight in determination, and took his hand firmly in her own. He tried to jog with her at his side but her boot and injury prevented her from stretching it more than necessary, so instead the two speedwalked over to the building to get to work. It was a bit of an anti-climatic start to their mission, but it was the best that she could do, so she couldn’t complain too much. Hell, she was lucky both Jumin and Luciel let her do this at all.

Not that they could have stopped her, but still. 

Taking down the defenses was a long and tedious task, taking a good hour or two for Luciel to be satisfied all while she watched the screen of his second laptop to make sure no one was inside or about to sneak up on them. Much like when he’d holed himself up in the penthouse and apartment, Luciel sat silent as he worked, only occasionally muttering to himself, the words  _ stupid _ and  _ duh _ being the most prominent of his ramblings. Finally he got up and helped her to her feet, any smiles he’d had before the mission completely gone and replaced with focus. It was a bit eerie how Luciel could just turn a part of himself off, but from what little she knew about his past, he’d had to do it his whole life. Switching part of himself off had to be as easy as breathing at this point.

She wanted to pity him, but she knew he’d yell at her if he knew she was, so Soo Min kept her mouth shut. 

The two snuck in through a side door of the building, the silence deafening her and only being broken by the muffled sounds of their own feet. The building was too clean and polished to be abandoned, as if the garden wouldn’t have tipped them off to that, and not even the stairs creaked as they made their way up. Doors upon doors lined the hallways, firmly shut and, after she tried one, locked, and all looked identical save for two: one seemed more metal than wood, and the other had the Eye of Horus engraved into it, painted bright blue and black with some streaks down the white paint that made her believe whoever had engraved that had been careless. Luciel made his way to the metal door and began to work his magic to get it open, but Soo Min felt herself drawn to the engraving, pulling her away from her partner as she got closer to the ornate door.

Right at the bottom of it, through a quick layer of paint, were deep crimson spots.  _ Blood _ , her brain whispered, and her eyes tore away from the spot to the cracked open door the blood was on. She reached for the door without thinking and slowly pushed it open a smidge, biting on her fist to keep herself from making any noise at the sight inside. Rows and rows of people were there in black robes, the gold trim of the robes being all that made the figures distinguishable from a regular shadow. The room was like a twisted sort of chapel, the lights a ghastly sort of green that reminded her of a children’s movie when the villain made an appearance. 

“ _ Soo Min! _ ” she heard Luciel hiss from behind her, but she shook her head as her eyes came into focus on the only person in the room without a robe or a hood, sitting on a gold and purple throne at the very front. Her outfit was a contrast of the purist white and the darkest black, blue and gold accents giving her a sort of regal aura and her high collar resembling that of a Catholic priest. Golden blonde curls cascaded down her back, surrounding her like a halo, and her green eyes pierced into Soo Min’s soul. 

Soo Min wasn’t sure if the woman could see her through the cracked door, but she couldn’t take her eyes away. She’d never seen a picture of the woman before, but her gut just  _ knew _ this was the woman whose apartment she’d been living in for the past days, but all thoughts of discovery flew out of her mind when one of the robed figures went up beside her, standing at her side as she stood from her seat and met Soo Min’s eyes directly. She knew they were here, and they were all fools to think that she wouldn’t know what went on around her own compound. 

Rika wasn’t just part of the cult. She  _ was _ the cult.

And she had Joon right at her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a quick note that 1) this is not beta'd so pardon my mistakes, and 2) this is just for fun so anything to do with soo min's injury (mainly her moving around on it) has been minimally researched so don't take whatever she does on an injured foot, esp one as bad as hers had been, for fact. listen to your doctors, folks.
> 
> also i've got a new writing blog! badger-wife.tumblr.com is still my tumblr if you want to see everything mysme and otome related, but if you want to see anything specific about this fic or future fics, check out aeducanwrites.tumblr.com!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry this is so late! it's been a hectic month, and it's going to be a hectic next few months as well as i prepare for my internship! still, i hope to update my schedule to be an update every two weeks rather than once a month, so here's hoping that the new schedule will stick! anyway, this chapter is pretty short, and i think we're almost at the end of the story entirely. my guess is three or four more chapters. thanks to everyone for sticking with it!

Grabbing Soo Min from behind was probably one of the worst decisions Luciel could have made moments after seeing her brother beside a cult leader, but at least he’d had the foresight to cover her mouth so her scream didn’t draw the attention of all the followers within Mint Eye. His hand was sweaty from either himself or from the heat of her breath, and she struggled against his hold until he shoved her into a closet and shut the door.

Or, she’d assumed it was a closet. Though the room was dark, she could still see the bright pastel pink walls in the dim light the window provided, with a vase of dried roses in the center of the room on a table pressed against an equally pink bed. A woman’s bedroom, she idly noted, though it didn’t look lived in. Not that it mattered, with Joon still in that woman’s grasp.

“Are you going to scream again if I uncover your mouth?” Luciel asked, and she shook her head. He tore his hand away from her mouth and Soo Min took a deep breath of stale air, staring at the door in horror.

“She has him,” she whispered. “Not just as a follower, or whatever they call themselves, but right at her side. Luciel--”

“Hey.” He took her shoulders in his hands and squeezed them until she looked at him, which frankly took a few minutes with her state of mind. When she finally looked at him he gave her a tight, not quite real smile, but Soo Min appreciated the sentiment nevertheless. “It’s going to be okay,” Luciel said. “We’re here for them both, yeah? Both Saeran and Joon. We’ll get them, and they’ll get better, and everything will be okay.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“I can promise that we’ll try.” He let go of her shoulders and glanced at the door. “For now, we need to focus on getting into that room. The security is almost primitive, honestly. It’s a little suspect.”

“For such a good hacker, you’d think their security was better,” she agreed, walking to the door and cracking it open. No one seemed to have followed after them despite the noise she most definitely made, for which she was grateful, and she waved for Luciel to follow her. Luciel placed a hand on the small of Soo Min’s back to steer her away from the chapel, and the two knelt in front of the door a moment later. 

The security was laughably easy, just like Luciel had said; Soo Min was sure she could hack into it with her eyes closed, and she wasn’t even a hacker. They entered the room and the door shut behind them, making both of them jump at the slam. She looked at Luciel uneasily.

“That’s definitely going to backfire on us,” she said.

“Oh for sure,” he agreed, heading to the massive computer setup across the room and letting out a low whistle. “Would you look at  _ this _ beauty. No wonder Saeran’s speed was on par with my own.” He ducked under the desk, and Soo Min could see his grin in her mind. “Damn, that processor is amazing. Where’d they get the money for all of this?”

“Should I leave you two alone for a minute?” she teased, and Luciel poked his head out from the desk with a grin.

“Babe, I’ll need twenty at least.”

Soo Min snorted and walked over to the computer, kicking his hip lightly with her good foot and booting up the system. It was abnormally vacant of computer files, or at least more noticeable ones, and she opened up the file explorer to give her search more depth. Luciel popped up from his exploration, a bit of dirt on his nose, and he moved to stand at her side.

“I’ve plugged my laptop into their network,” he said. “Find anything yet?”

“Patience, padawan,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m working on it. He hid his files really well.” A few more taps against the keyboard brought up a bunch of code, and she skimmed it quickly, ignoring how Luciel hovered above her shoulder. “Does he never sleep?” she asked, glancing at him. Luciel chewed his cheek and shook his head.

“With how he fought against my hacking? I highly doubt it. Saeran…” He gently nudged Soo Min aside and scrolled through the coding, his expression growing increasingly tight, though she couldn’t decipher what he was feeling. He pointed at a few lines of the code and huffed. “There’s my RFA coding. How the hell did he get it?”

“Rika?” Soo Min suggested, though the idea was quickly shot down. 

“Rika might be the leader behind this whole cult, but she was never particularly good with technology beyond the basics.” He started scrolling faster, brow furrowing further the more he found his coding. “What I want to know is not only how Saeran managed to learn coding, but  _ why _ . He was never meant to learn this shit, Soo Min. He was supposed to grow up as normally as the two of us could with that asshole of a mother. Rika and V were supposed to make sure of that while I was gone. This makes no  _ sense _ .” 

“People can be deceptive,” she said quietly, placing a hand on Luciel’s shoulder. He froze briefly before continuing on, letting the hand stay there. “I’ve obviously had it a lot better than you, but people who I thought were friends or family have deceived me for their own wants and needs too. It seems like Rika was one of them.”

“And V,” he said blankly. “He was in on it too, don’t forget.”

Soo Min shifted uncomfortably. The evidence was damning, but her gut told her there was more to the story. Her gut, or her hope that they were wrong for Jumin’s sake. “And V,” she echoed slowly. “Anyway, can’t we delete the code from their files and move on to finding where Saeran is? We need to keep moving.”

“Not that easy. They’re bound to have back-ups, if Saeran is anything like me still.” 

“Then take the entire computer system down. We can’t leave this place up and running--what Rika’s doing is horrible. We can’t let her keep this up.”

“Or you two could stop meddling for five seconds and step away from the computer if you know what’s good for you,” a voice came from behind them, and Soo Min and Luciel both froze. Soo Min slowly turned her head and saw Saeran behind them, leaning against the room’s only door with a smug smile on his face. His red hoodie was still hanging off of his shoulder like the last time she saw him, though in the dim light of the room she could faintly see robe burn around his wrists.  _ Good _ , she thought despite herself. Luciel’s twin or not, Saeran was dangerous. He’d survive that small injury.

She hoped to God that Joon wasn’t in a similar mental state.

“We’re trying to help you,” Luciel said slowly, and Saeran just laughed, maniacal and loud as the sound bounced off the metal walls of the room. 

“ _ Help _ me? Do you honestly think I’m an idiot?” he snapped, pushing away from the door and walking toward them. “Just like you  _ helped _ me when you left me behind with that  _ woman _ ? Poor, poor Saeran, all sickly and lonesome with his alcoholic mother. That’s okay though, right? He has his brother with him--oh wait,  _ he ran away without him and left him to rot _ .”

Luciel flinched violently, and Soo Min took a cautious step forward. “Saeran--”

He reached behind himself and pulled out a gun, shoving it in her face. The room turned to ice, and she automatically raised her hands up where Saeran could see them. Saeran grinned too widely, head tilted to one side and eyes darting to Luciel. “One more move toward me and she gets it.”

“Saeran,  _ don’t _ ,” Luciel pleaded. “She has nothing to do with what’s happened between you and me. Let Soo Min and Joon go.”

“Luciel!” she hissed, but both men ignored her.

“Why would I let her go?” he asked. “The Savior is always looking for new members to join us in Paradise. You’re lucky, redhead. Savior seems very intent to have you join us. If I had my way, I’d kill you now.” A giggle bubbled from his lips. “Better yet, go ahead and move. It’ll give me an excuse to shoot you where you stand without punishment. And Joon has been such a good Believer for the Savior. I’m sure his sister would benefit from Her protection just as well.”

Punishment? Protection? Soo Min’s eyes flickered to Luciel, but his gaze was locked on his brother, dismay written clearly over his features. The worst part was that Saeran was positively  _ drinking _ in Luciel’s pain, showing just how far gone he was under Rika’s so-called care. It was sickening, even more so when Saeran said how well Joon was taking to this treatment. 

They had to get out of there. Now.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Soo Min lowered her hands as the brothers argued. It hurt to not speak up as Saeran verbally abused and berated Luciel, but she couldn’t draw attention to herself. Gold eyes met hers briefly, and she subtly nodded her head toward her pocket. Luciel didn’t acknowledge the nod but let his tears openly flow after that, drawing his brother’s glee out with his pain as he tried to explain himself over and over. She slipped her hand into her pocket when Saeran turned bodily toward Luciel, taking the gun with him and only offering her stress the slightest bit of a reprieve. Now it was pointed at Luciel, but he was an agent. He could handle a gun better than she could.

At least, she hoped so.

**Soo Min:** SOS. In trouble. Send backup. SOS.

The text was already typed up, thankfully, so all she had to do was press send to Jumin and let her focus drift to the only thing that might let Saeran see reason: Luciel’s floppy disc. Soo Min tugged it out of her pocket and looked at Luciel until she got his attention, holding it up in her hand for him to see. His eyes widened comically, and Saeran finally looked at her, body tensing when he saw the disc.

“What is that?”

Her lips quirked up. “I know we’re young, but even you should know what a floppy disc looks like.”

“No, why do you have it?” he snapped, gun trained back on her. She concealed her fear like her father had taught her before she stopped covering her face with one of his masks.  _ An invisible mask _ , he would call it.  _ To guard against the press _ .

_ Or _ , she added silently.  _ To guard against deranged, maybe-killers who feed off of fear _ .

“Luiel is telling the truth,” she said slowly, taking a small step back toward the computer. “Rika was lying, Saeran. Luciel left for you, to make enough money and get you out of that house. He thought you were happy and healthy the entire time, and these pictures that Rika sent him are proof of that.”

His eyes flickered between Soo Min and the disc, and for a moment she thought she saw genuine fear and uncertainty. “You’re lying.”

“If you think I’m lying, then let me put it in,” she said. “You’ll be able to tell if it’s a lie or not, won’t you Saeran?”

“If you take a step closer to that computer, I--I’ll kill you!” he shouted, gun trembling. Soo Min took a deep breath and stepped back again, barely hiding her flinch when he undid the safety and cocked the weapon. 

“Saeran, at least look,” Luciel said, and that was all the moment she needed. Saeran looked at Luciel and she darted backward, shoving the floppy disc into the computer and pulling up the files attached to it. Luciel got the gun from Saeran somehow, leaving him totally vulnerable, but instead of lashing out like she’d expected, Saeran froze entirely, staring at the computer screen. The pictures were spread all across it, from various ages and locations. He looked identical to his brother in these, she noticed. Happier, too, judging by the smiles and looks of wonder he sported in all of them.

“Where did you get these?” Saeran whispered. Luciel walked up beside him, and surprisingly, Saeran didn’t lash out and try to push him away like he would have a minute ago.

“Rika sent them to me,” Luciel said softly. “She always told me you were happy and safe. Taken care of. If I’d known that was the opposite of the case, I would have returned immediately. You  _ have _ to believe me.”

“You’re lying,” he continued to whisper, stepping back. “You have to be lying, because if you’re not then  _ Savior _ was lying, and I--I can’t--” 

He took off running without another word, leaving his gun behind with the two of them. Luciel called after his brother in vain and chased after him, but the door shut behind Saeran just before the other Choi could reach it with a loud  _ thud _ . He tried the door and cursed, running back to the computer and pulling the surveillance cameras up. Saeran was running through the halls of Mint Eye, almost aimlessly as he shoved Believers aside carelessly. 

“Dammit!” Luciel shouted as Soo Min’s phone rang. He didn’t even spare her a glance. “Answer that. I’m going to work on unlocking the door.”

“Okay.” She clicked answer and relaxed when she heard Jumin’s voice.

“What’s going on? I’ve sent some of my people your way, but there’s been no resistance yet,” Jumin said immediately. Soo Min leaned against the door and sighed.

“Make a perimeter, and don’t let them use any lethal force unless used on them first,” she said. “This is a lot more complicated than we could’ve imagined.  _ None _ of them are in their right minds, Jumin. Rika’s completely lost it.” She hesitated. “Also, we’re locked in the surveillance room for the moment and Saeran might be running outside. If you see someone with white hair that looks like Luciel, don’t let him get away.”

“You’re what?” She heard a sigh from the other side of the line, and Soo Min fought a smile. “The sad thing is, that hardly surprises me anymore. Any luck with your brother?”

“Rika had him right at her side last I saw,” she said slowly. “She’s not just part of the cult, Jumin. Rika is the  _ leader _ of the cult. This is… I don’t even know how to describe it anymore.”

“That makes two of us,” he agreed. “Hang in there, alright? If Luciel can’t get you out from the inside, I’m sure once we capture Saeran we can convince him to open the door.”

“Don’t hurt him.”

“I’m offended you’d think I would.”

“Just be careful, okay? He’s even more unstable than he was last time we saw him. Like, questioning-his-entire-existence unstable.”

Soo Min could almost hear Jumin’s grin. “I deal with board members with that exact attitude on the daily, Soo Min. I’ll be alright. Now be safe, and I’ll talk to you soon.”

He hung up, and Soo Min slid down the door and onto the floor. She was a programmer, not a hacker; she’d rather build things than tear them apart to get through its coding. She’d only get in the way if she tried to help Luciel unless he specifically asked for her help. That left her with only one option for the moment, and she hated it with every fiber of her being:

Soo Min crossed her legs, stayed seated on the floor, and could do nothing but wait.

**Author's Note:**

> if you're enjoying the story, leave me some kudos and comments so i know! comments inspire me to keep writing, and help me to improve on the story for you all.
> 
> follow me on tumblr! http://badger-wife.tumblr.com


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